Worry, Be Happy

Bobby McFerrin wrote and performed the song ‘Don’t Worry, be Happy.’ However, it seems there is an advantage to worrying. In the 4 Rituals That Will Make You Happy, According to Neuroscience, Eric Barker posits, “In fact, worrying can help calm the limbic system by increasing activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and decreasing activity in the amygdala. That might seem counterintuitive, but it just goes to show that if you’re feeling anxiety, doing something about it — even worrying — is better than doing nothing. In the short term, worrying makes your brain feel a little better — at least you’re doing something about your problems.” In other words worry with no action can leave you in a negative state, but worry with action not only is productive, it’s calming.

I’ve discovered as an entrepreneur, worry actually has been quite critical. It keeps me on my toes. It reminds me and at time forces me to continually look for new services, bigger opportunities and improvements. In 2014, I became over-confident (lack of worry), resulting in less business development activities. As a consequence, I experienced my toughest year since the start-up. The jolt increased my worry and thus more business development activity in 2015. The result? A great 2016 and 2017.

So for me, ‘worry and be happy.’