Negative visualization · also called premeditatio malorum
how to worry productively
Negative visualization is deliberately imagining loss or failure in advance. Practised by the Stoics and now used in clinical settings, it reduces anxiety by converting a vague dread into a specific scenario you have already rehearsed surviving.
What to do about it
Write the worst realistic outcome and your first three moves if it happens.
Books that work on this
Each is a 90-day programme. Start with the first — later books assume the work in the earlier ones.
The Comeback Blueprint$6.99
Rock Bottom Floor$6.99
The Restart Protocol$6.99
Failure Math$6.99
No One Coming$6.99
Burn The Receipts$6.99
Rebuild In Silence$6.99
The Quiet Return$6.99Part of the Comeback series.
How people say it
Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.
- imagining the worst on purpose
- stoic exercise for anxiety
- preparing for things going wrong
- how to worry productively
- fear setting
- what if it all falls apart
- rehearsing the bad outcome
Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.