Skip to main content

Edition 278 – Recharging The Batteries

Written by Dean Robinson.

I’ve seen it often over the years. The business owner, running around all over the place. Early starts. Late finishes. Work that pops up locally, regionally and interstate.

The weekends come and it’s time to get on with stuff around the house. Build a shed. Mow the law. Paint the spare bedroom. Whatever is next on the to-do list.

Except, the body, nor the mind, can operate at peak performance for ever. Eventually, something will break, which leads to a long, slow recovery.

The longer you leave it to recharge the batteries, the longer it takes to recharge the battery. You’ve got no juice and you’re incapable of making the best decisions for your business, your family or yourself.

Here’s some tips from someone who, over the years, has run the battery dry and, from time to time, paid the price:

  1. Carve out days to do nothing – even in business. Sometimes they’re just catch up days – including catching up with staff.
  2. Pay people to do stuff at home – just because you’re physically capable of doing it doesn’t mean you should. Being Australia’s worst handyman, the best tool in my toolbox is my credit card.
  3. Be realistic with your expectations – don’t set unrealistic targets and then set punishing deadlines to finish things.
  4. Look for easy options – never again do I want to hold an 18th or 21st birthday party at home. It’s too much work; it’s too much of a worry with teenagers and young adults doing the wrong thing and it’s a heap of cleaning up afterwards. Being the unpaid help, you rarely enjoy it.
  5. Delegate – too many people that are too busy have too much stuff on their plate that others around them are not only more capable of doing, but will most likely do it much better than you. Stop being proud and pass it down.

I get it that some individuals thrive on this sort of existence. However, I doubt they will have a sustainable, long term future in business. Or if they do, the collateral damage may appear elsewhere in their lives – and that may be irreparable.

Once the battery is empty, sometimes the only solution is not a recharge, but a replacement.