There is no entrepreneur or senior level executive I know of that hasn’t experienced serious stress during the course of their business career. Certainly there are times when the pressure builds and builds and builds – forcing executives and line personnel alike to struggle just to keep up!

Stress causes all kinds of problems – more often than not compromising the individual’s ability to concentrate and get work done. Certainly the costs of neglecting stress in your business can be very high. And, strangely, stress is sometimes overlooked as a health and safety issue by small businesses. Yet the unexpected absence of just one member of staff can affect productivity, and efforts to secure cover can be costly and time-consuming.

Once upon a time a small boy and girl were building a sand castle on the beach. They spent hours building towers, walls, and a moat. As they were building the castle, the tide slowly kept creeping in closer and closer. Finally after working on this castle for most of the morning a big wave came in and wiped it all away. An adult who was watching all of this was at first feeling sorry for the children because of all the work they had put into building the castle. The adult then saw the children hold hands and run together laughing down the beach. It was then that the adult realized that although it is fun building empires, the lasting fun is having friends with whom you can continue to laugh and be with after all that you have spent your life building has washed away.

They’re just different. They’re like those ultra marathon runners or the people you see on Fear Factor that will eat worms for a chance to earn $50,000. Give them a challenge with some competition thrown in for good measure and it’s off to the races. You know the ones I’m talking about – they’re the people that all of your other salespeople often call “lucky”. Look inside their office, you’ll see motivational pictures and photographs of exotic places that they’ve been. Look at the car they drive, the house they own and even the books that they read – they all speak one word loud and clear: SUCCESS. The thing is – they’ve earned every last penny of it. They generally came from a humble background – probably middle class – and saw that they didn’t want to work as hard as their parents did to get what they really wanted in life (read: lots of cash). They knew all along that there just had to be a better way and when they first learned about this “sales” thing – it was love at first sight. Now, I may not be exactly right, but I can bet that I’m probably not far off either.

I’ve personally met and worked with many of these high achievers and here’s what I’ve found separates them from the rest of the pack…

Have you ever said to your spouse or a good friend, “Boy, I wish I could spend more time savoring the enjoyment and sense of accomplishment I should be getting from my business? I hardly have time to get all the stuff done that’s need every day – forget about being able to free up some time to grow and better managing my business?

Worse yet, my spouse just doesn’t understand how hard it is. It’s getting tougher and tougher to get it all done. And I’m falling behind in building my business because I’m just “too busy”!

OK – you’re busy! Busy doing what? Reacting to events? Getting buried in work because you never seem to be able to “keep up”? Do you think there might be something wrong with this picture?

Maybe you a CCBW? What’s that you say?

There is no entrepreneur or senior level executive I know of that hasn’t experienced serious stress during the course of their business career. Certainly there are times when the pressure builds and builds and builds – forcing executives and line personnel alike to struggle just to keep up!

Stress causes all kinds of problems – more often than not compromising the individual’s ability to concentrate and get work done. Certainly the costs of neglecting stress in your business can be very high. And, strangely, stress is sometimes overlooked as a health and safety issue by small businesses. Yet the unexpected absence of just one member of staff can affect productivity, and efforts to secure cover can be costly and time-consuming.

This is doubly true during a busy season – including the Holiday season whether your company markets to the seasonal market or not.