It never fails. Every time I worry about doing some unpleasant task like confronting someone who owes me money, or firing an employee who has been with me for long time, I realize that thinking about what’s going to happen is always worse than the actual event itself. I usually worry about the confrontation so much that my stomach will ache, and then, when I finally make the call or have the meeting, it’s never as bad as I expected. So now I try to get any potentially stressful situation over as fast as possible. Procrastinating only makes things worse, I know that now. The sooner I get it over with, the better I’ll feel, and the actual event it never as bad as I imagine it will be.

Now my stomach doesn’t hurt when I’ve got bad news to deliver or a confrontation to face. I visualize a positive outcome – what it will be like afterward. People appreciate the honesty and directness of such an approach, and so do I.