Decompression for a business owner

In scuba diving, they call it decompression. I think it also applies in business. 

The bends

When your body is under a lot of pressure at depth and your body absorbs nitrogen and other gas faster than it can be released, you need to come up to the surface from depth at intervals and slowly to allow your body to adjust to the pressure and let the gases in your body time to absorb and be dispersed so you don't get what they call the bends (which can be fatal).

They call it the bends because the dissolved gas literally bubbles in your body, you can physically curl up, bend and die. The proper name is decompression sickness (nickname - deco). If you can't get to a deco chamber fast enough, depending on the severity, you risk death or serious injury.

Your body can't go too deep for too long as it can't withstand the amount of pressure forces on the body - diving too deep for too long can also be fatal. Indeed, it is a really dangerous sport if not done absolutely properly and safely all the time.

Similarities

Thinking about it for a while on holiday in the Komodo islands, Indonesia - there are parallels here for being a business owner. Especially a sole business owner. 

If you don't have a business partner to look after your work while you're on holiday, it's very tempting not to take a holiday. The needs of a small business are huge and as you grow, the downside is, those needs seem to expand almost exponentially than revenue!

I have never seen a group of individuals that work harder than sole business owners. And I've worked in some very big international law firms. 

Amount and type of stress

The sheer amount of stress, the responsibility of staff, constant financial stressors, the ATO, accounting and book-keeping, the unknown, the sleepless nights, the early mornings, the late nights, constantly thinking how you can market your services better, keeping up with new technology and issues with existing software, management, supervision, client maintenance and endless satisfaction, resolving any disputes, being "switched-on" all the time, events, networking, sales, process, procedures, policies, business education, planning, strategy, product testing, monitoring, pivoting, reading, research, constant prioritising, hundred miles an hour....and doing the actual work....oh and did I mention - staff?! When you think about it, our bodies are not used to this type of stress and certainly not for a prolonged period of time. When it's your "baby", the hard and long hours don't seem to feel as tough as they would be if you were working for someone else. But, the catch is, they're actually harder on your body than you think (or perhaps are willing to admit...), and different types of stress affects different people in different ways.

Off-gassing

We need to take a break, to give our bodies, minds and souls a chance to rest and recover in order to keep performing at near peak performance - which our businesses appear to require. In diving, they call it "off-gassing" - you take surface intervals between dives (and now and then a day or two off diving) to allow your body to process and expel the gas in your body and stress so that you can continue to dive.

The same goes for business, there is a reason why weekends were created. If you've worked even just 1 x 80h week, you'll know why. If you've worked a row of weeks at 60h or more, you'll know why. If you've only worked a 40h week and it feels like you've worked a 80h week - you should know it's time! Business overwhelm is another really great sign to take a break. Your body and mind will literally shut down when it has reached its capacity. For me, I feel physically exhausted and need to get horizontal and hit the pillow. There are plenty of warning signs but we probably choose to ignore them and "crack-on". Most times it happens without warning. 

Go remote and slowly disconnect

The worst part of this holiday is that being remote, and being out scuba diving every day - there is very little Internet. The best part of this holiday - there is very little Internet. It's a double-edged sword you see? For the first few days I had separation anxiety from my business. Can the business survive without me for a day/few days/week? What if something urgent comes up? If my staff suddenly need me and I'm not there for them? Guilt levels at maximum, high fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) too.

But soon, I ride out these irrational thoughts and I can actually feel the stress and cortisol fight/flight adrenaline-type stress hormones leaving my body and my blood pressure drop. Unfortunately, you can't feel the gasses being absorbed in your body after diving, but you sure can feel it when your stress levels drop. You get quality sleep (unless at 5am you have a loud speaker-driven call to prayer wake you up, or a brood of roosters cock-a-doodle-do-ing outside!).

Creativity, clarity and recharge

A lot of people find they have great creativity when they are on vacation because they are able to let their creativity loose without distractions. They find moments of clarity and new ideas that wouldn't have come to them otherwise. Creative writing (e.g. this article) seems to flow suddenly like a waterfall and people report a renewed sense of purpose in their business, as opposed to having your head on a grindstone all day. Lots of studies have been done on the lack of quality of decision making when in highly stressful situations as opposed to thinking calmly and rationally in a composed state of mind.

You start to think clearly about a whole host of issues in life and business. My parents often say that the best decisions they have made is at the farm - where there was nothing that came in or out but a phone line and ABC tv. It's even worse for us nowadays with the explosion of Internet, apps, social media and software. The constant beeping, ringing, texting, vibrating, the dings from social media notifications. You know what I mean. An endless barrage of distractions preventing us from keeping focused. How are we expected to make great decisions all the time under these conditions? We're not. 

The other benefit is you start to feel like your body is recharging - especially with some healthy level of natural vitamin D. It's almost like we're little human batteries and the more you relax and recharge, the more the power bars come up to green from red. And then a little figurative gold star appears and suddenly you're excited to return.

Plan, but also be spontaneous

The other thing my parents do really well (I'm still working on it) is plan holidays. If you book it out in your diary, you can make it happen. If you're like me, unless it goes in the diary - it's got very little chance of happening. But don't let that stop you from taking sporadic time off either. A random trip or even just a weekend away in the mountains or up/down the coast can be as exciting and fun - give you a chance to disconnect for even just a day or two. It can make all the difference. 

I think that's another reason why I like swimming and diving so much. No mobile reception under water or out on a live-a-board boat, or where the Internet is so crappy, you're forced to just give up trying. It's just you, your breathing, your technique, being in the water and amongst the wonder that is nature. Face it, we don't know how long it's going to be around...or us for that matter. Life is short and we work so hard building businesses, giving people and their children livelihoods, ultimately being the engine room of the Australian economy - why don't you take a break? You deserve it, and so does the business.

Find your happy place, explore, meditate, read, drive, ride, run, climb, trek, fly, play, relax - whatever works for you to decompress. 

Drop me a line and let me know how it goes. And if you love diving like me, you should check out Komodo - it's head-and-shoulders the best I've seen so far.

Warm regards,

Ian Aldridge Progressive Legal

([email protected], mob: 0421974133)

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Disclaimer. This article is meant to be informational only and should not be taken to constitute legal, commercial or financial advice. Specific legal advice should be obtained for each individual business to make sure it is correctly applied.