By Nataly Kogan

How to worry less and get more done

Do you ever catch yourself worrying about how your work or craft will be received by others?

"What if my boss doesn't like this presentation?"

"What if no one likes the jewelry I make?"

"What if no one cares about my book or buys it?"

The last one? I'll be honest: This 'what if' has circled around my mind more than a few times as I've spent the past year working on my book. I have many variations of it, but essentially they boil down to a worrying about something I can't control: How other people (including you, awesome Happiers) will react the fruits of my efforts.

Last week I was in Boulder, Colorado, recording my audio book. As I read the last chapter, there were tears in my eyes. It was really emotional and I was all in, just focusing on what I was reading, on putting my whole heart behind every word.

In those moments, I wasn't thinking about what anyone would think about the book. I was just doing the work, as best as I possibly could. No 'what if' scenarios, good or bad, distracted my energy away from what I was doing.

That felt awesome. I loved doing the work, even though it was a lot harder than I anticipated. I felt great at the end of the day, feeling that I had done my best.

This experience reminded me about how much joy we can find in our efforts and how much energy we can waste by worrying about the outcome of our work.

Do the work and detach from the outcome.

It's not an easy practice, but the more you practice doing it, the more your work and your well-being will benefit.