I’m a worrier. I tend to plan my life out in large swaths of like ten years, and then worry about the steps in between. It’s silly, really! Having goals is admirable, and having plans to achieve those goals is even better… but allowing yourself to stress out about things you can’t control is frankly, not very smart.

Anyway, like I said, I’m a worrier. For example, I’ll catch myself worrying about how well a book will sell. Once the book is written, edited, marketed and released, it’s pretty much out of my hands! I can do some guest blogging and some Goodreads giveaways, but after that, I just have to let readers peruse bookshelves. It’s out of my hands.

A little while ago, I came across a mental exercise used by people struggling with addiction, and while I’m not an addict myself, I did find this incredibly wise: Take the next right step.

Taking the next right step means that you let go of your ten year plan, you choose not to worry about sales, you don’t obsess over the hundred and twelve little steps between yourself right now and the achievement of your ultimate goal, and you just… take the next right step.

You’re staying on a path that leads to success, and you’re still headed in the right direction, you just aren’t stressing out about everything else. Life is much more beautiful when you stop to enjoy the moment, and anything that is outside of your control won’t be fixed by worry anyway.

Today, my next step is editing a manuscript.

What’s yours?