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How Long Are You Willing to Tolerate Stress?
Do you know why the flight attendant on a plane tells you during the safety instructions to be sure to place the oxygen mask over your own face first, and then help others next to you? Because you only have 18 seconds of useful consciousness when you lose oxygen. Only 18 seconds before the physical and mental functioning deteriorates to the point where you can’t even take care of yourself! Let alone the person next to you.
The same thing applies to your physical and mental health. Are you operating on your “18 seconds of useful consciousness” all the while believing that you don’t really need to reach for that oxygen mask just yet, you’ve got a business to run!
The “18 seconds of useful consciousness” are what operating in too much stress is for you. You may still be operating, but the question is, for how long? We will have stress, that comes with the territory. But are you so far gone that you are ignoring your own built in early warning detection system? Not an oxygen mask dropping, but your body’s stress symptoms.
You know the signs of someone else’s stress when you hear them, difficulty sleeping, can’t concentrate or remember as much, irritable or anxious, headaches, stomach aches, muscle aches, over eating, over drinking, overwhelmed or worried. These are all signals of a “loss of cabin pressure” – and our bodies are asking us to grab the oxygen mask, tune up and de-stress.
Too many small business owners are operating in the danger zone. I have been guilty of thinking that I get a special dispensation from laws of the universe when it comes to how hard I can push myself. How about you? I assume most of us entrepreneurs and small business owners think we’re pretty tough and our passion for our business is so great we will endure just about anything to ensure its success. But ask yourself, are you experiencing some of these symptoms of low cabin pressure yourself, but ignoring them? Do you feel obligated to help your business before you take care of yourself?
Being dedicated to our business is a necessary trait to be successful, - but only to a point and only if you use that endurance and passion judiciously. Because if you are not first and foremost dedicated to the YOU that runs your business, you are not reaching your potential - - in your business or your life. In fact, you are headed for certain failure. I want you to be smart enough to know that you need to put the oxygen mask on yourself first, and then turn to help your business.
As for me, I only want the very sharpest person running my business. And that means my impulse to work as hard as I can to make sure my business succeeds, way beyond what I’d ever ask from anyone else, has to be balanced with taking care of me first, and knowing that as a person in charge, I need the oxygen first.
As someone that is dedicated and passionate about your business, you will be far better off if you apply that same priority of passion and dedication to YOU first, not your business. If you don’t passionately care for you first with the same enduring attention you give your business, then you have to wonder how good the person is that’s running your dream and your passion – your business, and if they can be there for the long haul.
I want you to start today by setting yourself up to win each and every day. Create a morning routine to make yourself strong first, physically and emotionally, thereby sensibly managing yourself before you even begin to think of managing your business.
Have you ever gotten up and started working right away in the morning in your home office? Checking emails, checking schedules, tracking statistics and numbers and sales. Breakfast comes much later, and exercise?? Well, that was a good intention. And you may not even get through the shower until just before your first appointment of the day. And later that night, much later, there you are, still churning out the work until midnight.
You think you are working very hard, and you are. But how effective are you when you push that hard? Steven Covey says “sharpen the saw”. All the physiology experts tell us our brains and bodies are more efficient with proper nutrition, sleep and exercise. So the next time you find yourself pushing that hard, ask yourself if you are really operating beyond the “18 seconds of useful oxygen” and setting yourself up to crash and burn. And it follows, if you crash and burn, you are setting up your small business to crash and burn too.
Get ready now to start to take care of yourself first, so that you can have the physical and mental functionality to run a business, to lead and to love others. If you really want a business that beats the odds of failure, then you must invest in yourself first with restful sleep, exercise, meditation and good nutrition every day. Ensure that you will start your business day feeling good and strong, motivated and inspired instead of tired, weak and pessimistic.
Make sure you’ve done your preflight check so that you can avoid those low cabin pressure times, and grow your business and help even more people. Set yourself up with your shortcut to success – and start your growing business every day with YOU!
Light The Fire!
