[stress] to expand your business, go to sleep

Take someone like Tim Worstall, whose natural tendency is to help those with initiative but through experience knows what he can and cannot do, this side of sanity. What I find with many of my clients is that they can’t relax, due to their inability to say ‘no’, fearing they’ll miss out on a chance or feeling guilty about taking time off. Perfect case in point was the lady who departed just now – running business, family and various side ventures and with a little child she can never say no to. Not even once. She’s sleep deprived. The experts say, ‘Be a little more selfish,’ but I don’t think there’s anything selfish about saying no – it’s simple logic. Analogy – on the aeroplane, when they do the safety routine at the beginning, over whose face do you put the air-mask first – yours or your child’s? To be at your best for the others in your life, you must take care of your own sanity first and this involves scheduling ‘non-meetings’ in your diary and having your secretary [wife or whoever] enforce them. The next task is to throw fear and guilt. If you can’t do that, you’re headed for low productivity, an early grave or both. If you can, your new-found bounciness will be infectious and your business surely will expand.