Does Your Business Manage You?

I’ve come across many people in the last year who courageously start their own business only to find out that the business eventually owns them and they never end up achieving the very dreams they started the business for in the first place?

They are scared to delegate that business to someone else and take time to pursue those dreams because they have a fear of the business collapsing while they are away.

Can you even imagine the stress build-up of becoming trapped year after year in your own business, and how frustrating that must be?

It seems to me that it’s the American way to aim for perfection and excel in business, school, sports, and life, yet this puts tremendous pressure on us all to be super productive in our days if we want to be successful

We’re all trying to do more in less time and feeling overwhelmed as a result.

So many people are bogged down with huge tasks yet to be completed just sitting there in front of them that stop them from moving forward because they suffer from Procrastination:

 …I’ll talk to my partner about that situation later or …I’ll pay off those bills by the weekend,

…I’ll fill the car with gas on the way home,

…I’ll start the diet tomorrow,

…I’ll sign up for that course next term,

…and on and on.

The result of this type of behavior is all negative: late charges for bills not paid, running out of gas, Deteriorating loving relationships because they did not address issues in the early stages and high blood pressure, diabetes, and risk of heart attack and stroke because they never did get on that diet and often made the problem worse by binge eating and alcohol.

For business owners, leaders, entrepreneurs, managers, spouses, and parents, delegation is an essential skill and leadership responsibility.

To be successful they MUST be very good delegators yet many people tend to wear many hats and do everything themselves!

The hazards of doing everything themselves can include burnout, missed deadlines, steady crumbling of loving relationships, depression and even cancer, people end up literally dying

They get stretched too thin or find that they don't have all the skills needed for the job. but still, they don’t delegate.

In a special report from the Harvard Medical School on emotional Well Being and Mental Health, it states that:

“one of the causes of emotional and mental health issues is juggling the responsibilities of a busy lifestyle.”

A perceived balance between a worker’s efforts and rewards (in terms of earnings, benefits, and career opportunities) also has been shown to influence health.

Imbalance of high efforts with low rewards has been associated with poor physical functioning and increased incidence of coronary heart disease,

as well as with moderately elevated risks of impaired mental and social functioning and the onset of mild psychiatric disorders.

The Dalai Lama said:

 “Man surprised me most about humanity because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.

Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.

And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;

The result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never…really…lived.”

We all know that being so busy can cause us pain in our lives physically. It can also cause the pain of not being with our kids as often as we like or being too busy to take time to really be present with our partners or other family members.

How often have you suffered emotionally because you know you are going to miss out on going to the gym, or dance lessons or learning another language or attending the concert because you just cannot find the time in your day?

How many times have you thought “if only I had an extra hour in my day”? How often have you suffered from a heavy heart by wishing that you could do more of the things you love to do rather than everything you feel you must do?

If you can relate and have managed to make your business work for you rather than the other way around, then feel free to help others and share your secret to success.