For far too long, in the modern industrial age, with the sense of control over our environment, inputs and outputs, we mistake worry for work.
The time we spend worrying is actually time we’re spending trying to control something that is out of our control. Time invested in something that is within our control is called work. That’s where our most productive focus lies.
Seth Godin, The Practice
Even if we do not dwell on the issue of productivity, worrying strangely feels like work maybe because there is psychological labour involved. But this labour accomplishes nothing even as it afflicts the costs.
Recognising worry as something unnecessary isn’t really helpful because it hasn’t improved things much. Realising worrying changes nothing also seem to have very little impact on psychology. Better to focus on what is within our control, and to handle the work we have been given, to ponder over how to do the work, rather than think you’re working by worrying about those things you cannot control.