The Worry Trick

“The Worry Trick: How Your Brain Tricks You into Expecting the Worst and What You Can Do About It” by David Carbonell, PhD


This is a book I’ve read to get more insight for my coaching practice. Although I could explain that worries are just thoughts, production of our brains and we should not pay too much attention to our “what if” thoughts, I was wondering how I could help further some of my clients who are worrying a lot.⁣

And this book gave me some new ways to look at worries.

I would definitely recommend this reading to all the persons who feel they are worrying too much and for which worries are taking over their life…

My key takeaways:

  • Everyone has worries. The issue is not the worry but our relationships with our worries; the attention we pay to our worries.
  • We are not in control of all our thoughts… Worries are unwanted thoughts produced by our brain and not from our willingness to produce them. The more we want to control them the more we are frustrated. But we can control what we do with them.
  • We should not treat our worry as danger but as discomfort. Let it pass and not fight it.

The book gives some techniques for chronic worriers to cope with their worries.I liked to AHA technique:

  • Acknowledge and accept the worrisome thought
  • Humor your worries
  • Activity; resume doing things that are important to you!

More tools and techniques in the book!