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Luke12321

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I was listening to a show on my Sirius radio on the way home last night and it was about fear and success. The part I listened was a music artist who had seen his mom killed IIRC. His point was, before he decides to go after something….he always thinks about what is the worse thing that can happen? He said after he figures that out, he focuses on the positive outcomes and tries to block out the “most terrible case scenarioâ€. So I started thinking about the big picture of life and how we worry about such little things and the “worse case†thoughts keep you from going after your dreams! Does anyone battle with the “worse case†thoughts and how have you managed them?

Luke
 
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kurtyordy

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I have a friend who used a similar stategy to build his r.e. empire. His first property with 3 partners and he asked, what is the worst that can happen. Well, no rents are paid and we owe 4k a month to cover expenses. Then he asked each partner if they could cover 1k a month. They all could.

Ok, now that we know we can handle the absolute worst, lets build up from there.

5 mill plus now.

If you isolate and diminish the worst, you will not be paralyzed by fear of the unknown, because you already know what the worst will be.
 

Diane Kennedy

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I was listening to a show on my Sirius radio on the way home last night and it was about fear and success. The part I listened was a music artist who had seen his mom killed IIRC. His point was, before he decides to go after something….he always thinks about what is the worse thing that can happen? He said after he figures that out, he focuses on the positive outcomes and tries to block out the “most terrible case scenarioâ€. So I started thinking about the big picture of life and how we worry about such little things and the “worse case†thoughts keep you from going after your dreams! Does anyone battle with the “worse case†thoughts and how have you managed them?

Luke

I struggled with that a lot early on. The breakthrough book for me was "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living". It's old, but very powerful for me at the time.

Now when i do worst case, it's an exercise. "What's the worst thing that could happen?" and then come up with the solutions for what I'd do if that happened. Then, I feel secure and can move forward.

In all that time, the worst case never came true. My husband will point that out to me and I then say, "See the exercise worked! It kept the worst case from happening."

And, for what's it is worth, I know how ridiculous that is...but whatever works....
 

Russ H

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I'm a worst case scenario guy. Drives my wife crazy sometimes. ;)

I was raised to be afraid of just about *everything*.

And I mean everything-- I have never ice skated or roller skated b/c my parents were worried I'd break my ankles, I never played the trumpet (wanted to) b/c my parents were afraid of what it would do to my teeth. Never got to see (or use) fireworks close up b/c my parents thought they'd explode. Etc. etc etc.

You get the idea.

So when I finally got out of the house, and was having a really hard time adjusting to life alone in the great big world, our family therapist asked me: "What are you afraid of?"

To which I repled "Just about everything", and I detailed some of my fears surrounding the thing we were talking about at the time.

She then said to me: "What's the WORST thing that could happen?"

I thought about that.

"I could die", I said.

We talked about that for a bit (and that it was, indeed, highly unlikely).

We kept on talking about all of the potentially bad things that could happen around this one particular event (kind of like a worst case scenario list).

After I got done w/the list, I felt better.

Because I started coming up with "Plan Bs" for each of the worst case scenarios!

In other words, if one of the "worst case scenarios" was my car got wrecked, well, I'd have insurance, get it fixed, and just rent a car in the meantime.

******

This was a HUGE step forward for me in conquering my fears.

Anytime I'd be paralyzed by fear and unable to move forward, I'd ask:

"What's the worst that could happen?"

And I'd make a list, either mentally, or writing my fears down on paper.

And for each fear/worst case, I'd come up with a solution (which I called my "Plan B").

If I worried that my Plan B might fail as well, then I'd do I Plan C (i.e., what I'd do if Plan B failed).

I do this exercise to this day, whenever I embark upon something that scares me (marriage, having kids, investing millions in RE, maintaining my health).

My "worst case" often motivates me to change what I'm doing/how I'm doing things, to increase my odds of success (and avoid the failure I fear).

In other words, sometimes, in order to move forward with something I'm afraid of doing, I just come up with a "Plan B", and then implement that Plan B, at the same time I'm doing the thing I'm scared of!

Example: I want to convert a house into a B&B, but I'm afraid that my neighbors might object.

Worst case scenario (what's the worst that can happen?): My neighbors fight me in front of the city planning commission, and I lose our petition to convert the house, and we're out all of our hard earned dollars and time.

Plan B: Talk to the neighbors if they're worried/don't want a B&B next to them, and work things out so that everyone is OK with it.

Implementation:

We're having an open house for all of our neighbors, to share our plans w/them-- AT THE SAME TIME THAT WE'RE APPLYING FOR THE B&B CONVERSION. This way, we'll be addressing any negative issues *before* they come up in front of the City Planners.

Make sense?

As much as this strategy is not for everyone (as I said, my wife thinks it's nuts!), it works for me. Big time.

-Russ H.
 
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GettingThere

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I definitely agree with this approach. From an engineering standpoint, this is almost a standard...starting with ideal circumstances in the outline to baseline the original thoughts, then analyzing each point to see which combination of events could lead to the worst possible outcome. Then, work to prevent that from happening and design a reliable system.

- John
 

GoldenEggs

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I'm a worst case scenario type of person. Like some of the other people have posted, I too think of the worst possible end result and work my way backwards. Luckily for me, my husband's brother had the same thought process so he understands where I am coming from. Also, my worst case scenarios tend to be on the ridiculous side so the chances of it happening are very slim.

I try not to let my fear of the unknown get in the way. The way I see it, there is ALWAYS something that I can proactively do, even if it is small. When I find myself saying, it can't be done, it's too hard or I don't know how to do it... I change the questions around, well, where can I find out more information about this? Who can I ask? I may not find the right answers but emotionally I feel better because I am taking steps to find an answer. I think that must have come from my childhood when I was always told, go look it up in the dictionary/encyclopedia/library or ask someone else whenever I had a question.
 

rcardin

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We sat down and figured what the worst case scenario would be if we buckled down and tried to get more rentals. The worst case we came up with was bankruptcy. Now that is out of the way and we can focus on how instead of when to get more rentals.
 
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Luke12321

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I struggled with that a lot early on. The breakthrough book for me was "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living". It's old, but very powerful for me at the time.

Now when i do worst case, it's an exercise. "What's the worst thing that could happen?" and then come up with the solutions for what I'd do if that happened. Then, I feel secure and can move forward.

In all that time, the worst case never came true. My husband will point that out to me and I then say, "See the exercise worked! It kept the worst case from happening."

And, for what's it is worth, I know how ridiculous that is...but whatever works....


I will try to pick up that book! Thanks for the suggestion. As I am planning on getting into real estate, I find myself battling the "what if's". Glad to know others go through this as well.
 

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