Latest / Just For Today / 80. The Willis Carrier Formula
Transcript
- Jessica Figueroa: Good morning, everyone. Boy, am I happy to be here because today we're gonna go back to what this podcast is founded on. The name of this podcast, just for today, comes from the book Dale Carnegie wrote called How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. I really suggest you read it. And then once you finish reading it, I really suggest you read it again. And then once you read it again, I suggest you wait a few months and then read it again. But I'm gonna tell you a little story that comes from the book, and this Dale Carnegie actually opens the book with this story, and it's about a story of an engineer who invented air conditioning. It was an engineer. And he developed this three-step method for handling stressful situations called the Willis Carrier Formula. So this three-step method for handling stressful situations was number one, ask yourself what is the absolute worst thing that could happen if this goes wrong? Number two. Accept that worst case mentally only and then make peace with it. And then three, calmly work to improve upon that worst case scenario in your head. So again, the three things for handling a stressful situation is first ask yourself, what is the very worst case scenario? What's the worst thing that could happen? And then number two, accept it mentally. And number three, work from there to improve upon this. I know about a year ago I found a lump in my breast and was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. And then I had very quickly a double mastectomy and radiation and then a full hysterectomy. And I know in the beginning, because I had read this book many, many times, that I'd asked myself, what is so panic didn't set in because it wanted to. ⁓ boy, did it want to. But what is the absolute worst thing that could happen with breast cancer? Well, the worst thing was I could die. However, I know where I'm going and I know who my savior is and I know where I'll be. So the worst case scenario felt scarier until I accepted that that was a reality. And I would tell my children that that wouldn't be sad for me because I would be in heaven. That would be sad for you. ⁓ and then once I accepted, ⁓ okay, well, maybe I'm going to die in three to five years. And then I made peace with it as much as you can in advance. And then I started to work to improve upon that. All right, well, if I had three to five years to live, what would I do differently? Which was actually a business ⁓ business exercise that one of my great coaches gave to me many, many years ago was this exact thing. If you only had three to five years to live, what would you do differently? Because it's actually a healthy mindset to develop that if I only had a short period of time to live, but it can't be too short, because then you would make irrational decisions, right? If you were gonna if you knew you were gonna die in six months. So it has to be a long enough period of time. For the mental exercise that you would still need to go to work, make an income and do those things. But if you were to die in three to five years, what would you do different in your life? And then start to implement some of those changes. So you hear these stories about people like me who found out they had cancer. I was 43 years old when I discovered it. And you hear how they say it's the best thing that ever happened to me. And before you walk through it, you're like, okay. But as I've walked through it and I'm only you know, 14 months away from the first time I felt the lump. So I would still very much be in it. But already my life is so much better because of the cancer. My mindset, my actions, my choices, the people I want to spend time with, my relationship with my children. It's changed everything simply because it changed my perspective from this never-ending open amount of time to the finiteness that is the reality for all of us. So today, just for today, we're going to handle our stressful situations with the Willis Carrier formula. Number one, ask yourself what is the absolute worst thing that could happen? Number two, accept that worst thing mentally and then make peace with it. Number three, calmly work to improve upon that worst case scenario. All right, guys. And get yourself a copy of this book, Dale Carnegie's How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. Keep it nearby somewhere. You can read it in short sections. It's not something that has to be read in ⁓ back to back to back. I love you guys. I believe in you. We are a community of people doing this together. You're just one person listening amongst thousands of people that are doing this at the same time. And we can do it. I'll see you tomorrow.