There are those who say that it is pointless worrying, and I largely agree. But worry, like pain is an important survival mechanism. Let’s say that your business has taken an unexplained downward turn. Cash is drying up and you wake up in the night and worry about the cash shortage.

Next morning, you go to your computer and examine sales trends, which products are in decline? Then you take another look at your marketing and there you see that response to your Google Ads for those products has fallen below normal – far less clicks than usual.

You look at the campaign and see that Google “optimised” your campaign six weeks ago. They changed it from maximise clicks to maximise conversions. You undo what they did and over the next few days, you see clicks returning to normal. Phew!

The worry was telling you that something was wrong.

It’s the same with pain. It’s telling you that something isn’t right and needs attention. Without it, your leg could be falling off and you wouldn’t notice until you fell over!

The trick is not to worry about something over which you have no control. That is an unnecessary waste of emotional energy.

That’s why I don’t watch or listen to the news. I simply flick quickly through my Business Day news feed every morning in case there’s something relevant to my work. That’s all.