The #1 problem for business leader is...

Ok, I’ll get to what IT is, but actually the big reveal wouldn’t serve you yet.

I know this because it didn’t me or any of my clients.

I absolutely love business and I always have.

Problem solving, collaboration, meeting new people and having conversation that actually get me excited about being alive.

It’s why I do what I do now and why I build my business by meeting people for coffee.

Then there is the drama, the suspense, the adrenaline of keeping a float, of doing a deal in the nick of time, of having an impact, of growth of creating something out of nothing.

After a while it stops being a game, or rather it did for me.

I started internalising it like a kid who watches a scary movie and walks around the house for the follow few days on edge.

The first thing that happens is difficultly not being on edge.

Home life starts to feel agitating, you want to relax but you can’t so you find a task to do like fixing something or drink some alcohol to quiet your mind/ make you feel relaxed.

The next thing is caffeine first thing. The story is, I like it. That was my story anyway.

The truth is I needed the stress hormones to feel NORMAL

Still at this stage happy as Larry.

What ever that means.

I’m happy.

I feel great.

My likes and dislikes are just evolving that's all...

The next thing that appeared, and this is looking back rather than something I was aware of at the time.

Less time for friends.

Staying up slightly later.

More mobile phone usage.

More sugar intake.

Less tolerance of family.

Less patience when listening to people.

Telling people what to do instead of coaching.

Working on stuff in the evening.

Raised voice with the kids.

Still all of this was fine.

I was living life at the limit, loving it and I’d folded all that crap into the story of what was required.

People stuff... that was them, not me.

Brains are clever like that.

I started not enjoying weekends, holidays, relaxing with the family.

It was either GO GO GO

or NO NO NO

Even my hobbies had to be fitness related to keep my heart rate and stress hormones up.

It was at this time that I started to see other guys my age coming into my studio.

Suddenly overweight

Suddenly inflamed and swollen

Struggling to have children

Suddenly signed off work with stress, or thinking about a sabbatical from their company

Suddenly on depression medication

Suddenly on anxiety medication

Suddenly suffering chronic back pain

Suddenly suffering IBS

Suddenly suffering insomnia

The word is suddenly too.

They were loving life just weeks or months before. Then out of nowhere the body or brain was saying NO!

They could point to the same markers as me looking back too.

Asthma and eczema and regular colds was my wake up call. They are all markers on a slippery slope and I’m pleased I caught it early.

The signs are all there and I really want to draw attention to them because the previous generation didn’t do anything until heart attacks, cancer or Chronic pain at 50.

I know this because they were my clients when I first start out.

The point is this.

Stress isn’t always easy to identify and the body keeps score regardless but if you'r experiencing relationship or health symptoms then stress is kicking your ass and the best time to fix it is now before the body says NO