I refuse to worry about stuff that hasn’t happened yet.
Maybe it sounds simple, but it’s something that I’ve struggled with for a long time. And I’m not alone: in a study tracking people with generalized anxiety disorder, participants logged their worries for 10 days and then tracked what actually happened over the next 30. 91.4% of their “worry predictions” never happened.
I haven’t tracked it myself, but thinking back over previous months I think that number is pretty close for me.
Why 91% of Your Worries Are Wasting Your Mental Energy
91.4% of worry predictions never happen. That single statistic should fundamentally change how we approach anxiety about future events.
I have wasted so much time, energy, and emotional capital worrying about crap that never happened. I have suffered the consequences of events that were only imagined.
Worrying about resources I need to be successful being decreased (they’ve only increased). Worrying about losing deals we needed (we’ve lost some, won a lot, and made up for the ones we did lose). Worrying about getting sick right before/during a big trip (I’ve had a great run of good health). Worrying that “this is the quarter when it all falls apart” (we crushed every quarter this last year).
The Real Cost of Imaginary Problems in Sales
Sales professionals are especially vulnerable to worry cycles because our success depends on future outcomes we can’t fully control. We worry about deals falling through, quotas we might miss, objections we haven’t heard yet.
But here’s what I’ve learned from years of managing sales teams: worry often stems from misreading situations rather than actual problems. When a buyer says “I need to think about it,” we immediately assume rejection. When they ask tough questions, we interpret it as resistance instead of engagement.
I was not objecting to the proposed outcome when buyers pushed back on deals. They were just already working on that priority through a different approach, or they had no reason to believe our solution was better than their current state. The objection wasn’t about the outcome—it was about our approach or timing.
This perspective shift is crucial: most of our sales worries are based on incomplete information, not actual deal-killing problems.
A Simple Method to Break the Worry Cycle
When the worry gets into my mind I literally say, “This hasn’t happened. I’m not going to worry about it.”
And then I turn my attention to 1) what is real and 2) what I can do now to make it even less likely that what I’m worrying about happens.
It’s actually been pretty simple. The key is catching the worry early and redirecting that mental energy toward productive action instead of imaginary suffering.
Two Questions That Eliminate Bigger Worries
For bigger worries, I’ll write out two specific questions:
What would I do if it did happen?
Turns out it’s never that big of a deal, I can work my way through even the worst case scenario.
What can I do now to make it less likely it happens?
Taking action is a miracle drug for eliminating worry.
And then I move on, refusing to suffer now for something that likely won’t ever happen.
Taking Action Instead of Suffering in Advance
There’s enough crap in real life without having to deal with crap in our imaginary life.
The reality is simple: you can either spend your mental energy worrying about problems that probably won’t happen, or you can channel that same energy into actions that make success more likely.
I choose action over anxiety. I choose dealing with actual problems over imaginary ones. And this year, that choice has already changed my life.
Hopefully you aren’t a chronic worrier like I’ve been. But if you are, hopefully this helps give you even a bit of a mental reprieve.
