At this stage, most people have heard of Dale Carnegie’s uber-bestselling book How to Win Friends and Influence People. It was originally published in 1936 and has sold 15 million copies. It helped kicked off the whole self-development movement and is one of the bestselling self-help book of all time. (It was #19 on Time magazines list of all-time most influential books.) Having said that, I actually avoided reading it for over 20 years. I just couldn’t get past what appeared to be a pretty shallow, transactional view of human relationships so… Alas, a couple years ago I finally submitted to the pressure of countless requests to do a Note on it (hah) and really enjoyed it. But that’s not quite the point of Today’s +1. This is. Did you know Dale wrote another book a dozen years later called How to Stop Worrying and Start Living? It’s true. And, it’s AWESOME. Quick question: You ever worry? * Insert laughter here * Once again: Of course you do. You’re human. Want a quick tip on how to stop worrying and start living? Dale offers a bunch of practical wisdom but this is one of my favorites: “George Bernard Shaw was right. He summed it all up when he said: ‘The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not.’ So don’t bother to think about it! Spit on your hands and get busy. Your blood will start circulating; your mind will start ticking—and pretty soon this whole positive upsurge of life in your body will drive worry from your mind. Get busy. Keep busy. It’s the cheapest kind of medicine there is on this earth—and one of the best.” Obviously, it’s a bit more nuanced than that but… Yep. That’s about right. As George Bernard Shaw says: “The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not.” And, as Dale Carnegie says: “Spit on your hands and get busy. Your blood will start circulating; your mind will start ticking—and pretty soon this whole positive upsurge of life in your body will drive worry from your mind. Get busy. Keep busy. It’s the cheapest kind of medicine there is on this earth—and one of the best.” * Insert spit on your hands * Let’s get busy. And stay busy. While, of course, properly oscillating and shutting down completely when the time’s right. Today.
