Plan how to prevent each worst case

For every worst case, write what you could do to reduce the odds of it happening.

Why it works

Perceived control is one of the strongest moderators of how threatening a situation feels. By generating a prevention move for each fear, you shift the item from "this could happen to me" to "this is partly within my influence," which lowers the felt threat and reveals that most worst cases are not as inevitable as they seemed.

How to do it

1. Take each worst case and ask: what could I do to make this less likely?
2. Write at least one concrete preventive action per fear.
3. Notice which fears have easy preventions — those were never the real obstacle.

Evidence

Aligns with well-established findings that perceived control reduces stress responses and with the logic of problem-focused coping. The specific prevention-column exercise is practitioner-designed and not independently validated. (mechanistic)

Some fears genuinely have no prevention; forcing one can create false reassurance. Honest "I can’t prevent this" is a valid entry.

Common mistake

Writing preventions you’ll never actually do, so the column looks complete but the real risk is unchanged.