Do All Your Worry Upfront

Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, said these words on preparation and worry:

The time to worry is three months before a flight. Decide then whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved. If it is, stop worrying. To worry is to add another hazard. It retards reactions, makes one unfit…. Hamlet would have been a bad aviator. He worried too much.

These words resonate so much with me.

In the months before I left my corporate job to move into the entrepreneurial venture, I worried about everything I had to worry about. Considering all the worst-case scenarios, I obsessed over the different ways things could go wrong. I catastrophized,“If I failed abjectly, what would I do?”

Ultimately, It all came down to my belief that the opportunity was worth it. So, once I was done with all the worrying, I took the plunge into the exciting world of Fintech.

After I moved into my new role, I experienced multiple instances of things going awry-promised deals that never materialized, customers closing shop due to the pandemic, and revenues drying up. On some nights, I would wake up in a cold sweat, worrying about things that weren’t going my way. But in the morning, I would steel myself. The worrying had already been done before I made the move, and worrying now would make me fearful and unproductive.

This can be a good mental model. 

If you are looking to undertake anything that you believe is outside your comfort zone, and you are confident it is worth it, do all your worrying before getting into the task. Then, once you are in, keep your worries at bay. They weaken you !!