Motivational Article

I have a friend with an interesting philosophy: “Life is a race.” He lives by this motto. He does everything fast: he eats, drinks, drives, runs, thinks, and works at breakneck speed. He's the first person in the office every morning (that's 7 days a week) and the last one to leave. (It's not only a fast race, it's a marathon.) His colleagues nicknamed him “The Road Runner” when he entered his profession at age 21.

This friend of mine is now a moderately successful businessman. He owns his own company, has some investments, and is very well-respected in his field. But he rarely sees his family and hasn't had more than two consecutive days off in over a year. He's not yet 38, but looks ten years older. I asked him recently if this philosophy is still working for him. He thought for a moment and then admitted, “Well, actually, I'm pretty tired.”

He's more than “pretty tired”… he's is suffering from BOSS syndrome ( B urned O ut and S tress- S aturated).

For many years, I used to be fanatically busy myself - my endless activity was a large part of my act as 'Mr. Busy-Important'. My frenzied pace kept me preoccupied and at a safe distance from some of the 'minor' things that were bothering me under the surface (things like feeling angry, frustrated, under-nourished and out of balance.)

The people that play the same game are numerous. I have since discovered that it's more than a game, or a race - it's an addiction. We use the term 'workaholic', but really it's anyone who fills every minute with activity to avoid looking at the issues in their life that are not working the way they wish.

As you rush from one task to another, juggling problems as you go, it becomes much easier to forget the long list of things that need to be fixed. But it becomes more difficult to remember that you are a human being , not a human doing .

What happens when you keep running without pausing to ask, "Where am I running?" and "Why am I running there?"

You become the BOSS!

If you find this scenario an uncomfortable reminder of your life, it's high time to do something good for yourself.

The Yoda Philosophy

When I asked my Road Runner friend when he was going to slow down a bit and take better care of himself, his response was, “I'll try to take an afternoon off next week.”

I smiled and responded with Yoda's famous line from Star Wars, “There is no ‘try,' there is only ‘do.'”

The trouble with BOSS syndrome is that you TRY to do everything, but often you end up not DOING very much at all.

BOSSes need to realize that although work is important, it is not your whole life. It's critical for your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health to take breaks. Beyond yourself, you have family and friends who care about you and would like to spend time with you. They would like you to live a long time.

Only you control your destiny. You are the only person who can change the behavior and attitude pattern. If you know it isn't working for you and want something different in your life, what are you doing to achieve it?

On your Mark, Get Set… Rest!

It is tough for some BOSSes to take that step beyond ‘trying' to find time to relax and actually doing it. Here are some ideas to help.

•  Delegate: BOSSes tend to be perfectionists; no one else can do as good a job as they can. Well, that's a lot of ego talking: hand the reins over once in a while and see what happens. The world will not stop turning if you take a day off.

•  Schedule : Make an appointment for some “down time”. Block off one hour once a week close to the end of the typical workday (say, 5:00 p.m.) to get a massage or play soccer with your child. This is probably still “working hours” for you so it will feel a bit like playing hooky, but it is late enough in the day that you'll be ready for the break and no one will notice you've left the building (except you and your child!)

•  Go Outside : If you usually wolf down a sandwich at your desk or in the car between meetings, make sure you take your brown bag outside at least once a week (preferably more often than that). Just getting outside and sitting on a park bench throughout the day will slow your pace down enough to regenerate your energy supply.

•  Exercise: Put some of your hyper energy to work in a good way. Work your body and relax your mind. If you typically put in 14-hour days at the office, there is no reason you can't skip out for a 30-minute walk (or run or game of squash) at some point in the day. Consider it an investment in your most valuable portfolio: YOU.