（“In the old days， one man in the conference would suggestone solution. Someone else would argue with him. Temperswould flare. We would often get clear off the subject， and at theend of the conference no one would have written down all thevarious things we could do to attack the problem.）Question 4： What solution do you suggest？
（“I used to go into a conference with a man who had spenthours worrying about a situation and going around in circleswithout ever once thinking through all possible solutions andthen writing down： ‘this is the solution I recommend.’）“My associates rarely come to me now with their problems.
Why？ Because they have discovered that in order to answerthese four questions they have to get all the facts and think theirproblems through. And after they have done that they find， inthree-fourths of the cases， they don’t have to consult me at all，because the proper solution has popped out like a piece of breadpopping out from an electric toaster. Even in those cases whereconsultation is necessary， the discussion takes about one-thirdthe time formerly required， because it proceeds along an orderly，logical path to a reasoned conclusion.
“Much less time is now consumed in the house of Simon andSchuster in worrying and talking about what is wrong； and a lotmore action is obtained toward making those things right.”
My friend， Frank Bettger， one of the top insurance men inAmerica， tells me he not only reduced his business worries， butnearly doubled his income， by a similar method.
“Years ago，” says Frank Bettger， “when I first started to sellinsurance， I was filled with a boundless enthusiasm and love formy work. Then something happened. I became so discouragedthat I despised my work and thought of giving it up. I think Iwould have quit—if I hadn’t got the idea， one Saturday morning，of sitting down and trying to get at the root of my worries.
1. I asked myself first： ‘Just what is the problem？’ the problemwas： that I was not getting high enough returns for the staggeringamount of calls I was making. I seemed to do pretty well at sellinga prospect， until the moment came for closing a sale. Then thecustomer would say： ‘Well， I’ll think it over， Mr. Bettger. Comeand see me again.’ It was the time I wasted on these follow-upcalls that was causing my depression.
2. I asked myself： ‘What are the possible solutions？’ But toget the answer to that one， I had to study the facts. I got out myrecord book for the last twelve months and studied the figures.
I made an astounding discovery！ Right there in black andwhite， I discovered that seventy per cent of my sales had beenclosed on the very first interview！ Twenty-three per cent of mysales had been closed on the second interview！ And only sevenper cent of my sales had been closed on those third， fourth， fifth，etc.， interviews， which were running me ragged and taking up mytime. In other words， I was wasting fully one half of my workingday on a part of my business which was responsible for only sevenper cent of my sales！
3. ‘What is the answer？’ the answer was obvious. I immediatelycut out all visits beyond the second interview， and spent the extratime building up new prospects. The results were unbelievable.
In a very short time， I had almost doubled the cash value of everyvisit I made from a call！”
As I said， Frank Bettger is now one of the best-known lifeinsurancesalesmen in America. and writes a million dollars’
worth of policies a year. But he was on the point of giving up.
He was on the point of admitting failure—until analysing theproblem gave him a boost on the road to success.
Can you apply these questions to your business problems？ Torepeat my challenge—they can reduce your worries by fifty percent. Here they are again：
1. What is the problem？
2. What is the CAUSE of the problem？
3. What are all possible solutions to the problem？
4. What solution do you suggest？
How to Break the Worry Habit
Before It Breaks You
