Cash Isn't the Only Thing Running on Empty

A client "just needs" something tonight.

A team member leaves and you quietly absorb their workload.

A supplier drops the ball, so you stay late to patch the gap.

You tell yourself it's temporary. Then it becomes business as usual.

That's running on empty, and it doesn't only happen to your bank account.

What it does to your decisions.

When you're tired and stretched, you discount out of fear of losing the job. You say yes to work you shouldn't take, because you feel you can't afford to say no. It looks like a business problem: thin profit, lumpy cash. Underneath, there's no margin in you.

A lesson from endurance riding.

I used to ride endurance: 80 kilometres in a day, on horseback. The rule is "to complete is to win." At each vet check, the horse's heart rate is assessed, and if he hasn't recovered, you're out, however fast you got there.

I completed my first 80km ride and was disqualified at the final vet check. I'd pushed hard, thinking that finishing exhausted meant I'd done my best. My horse didn't have enough left to go on.

Business is the same. Last week, you checked whether your cash could pass the vet check. Your time and energy face the same test.

Where to start.

Not with a list of new habits. With one.

And I don't pick it for you. I ask an owner: "How do you look after yourself?"

Most name something straight away. A walk. A proper lunch break. A block in the diary that nobody books over. That's the one to start with.

If nothing comes, I ask: "How do you relax and switch off?"

Some say, "I don't." So I ask: "Would you like to?"

The answer is usually yes. Then: "How would you do that easily?"

If they're stuck, I use myself, to show how small it can start, not as the habit to copy.

During COVID, I struggled to reach 6,000 steps a day. I'd walk up the street and back. A workman made fun of me. There was a hill I had to stop part way up to rest. I thought I'd never get there. But there was nothing else to do, so I kept going.

Now I walk 70 to 80 kilometres a week, in the mornings. That's when everything is waking up, and it's where I do my best thinking. I'm a morning person, so it's my best time of day.

I've wanted to give up many times. When it's dark and raining, it's hard to get up and walk. So one of the first things I decided was how I'd walk in the rain. I use an umbrella.

That's what keeps a habit going: determination, and a plan for the most common thing that will get in the way.

It has to be yours.

One owner I work with decided to do four parkruns in a quarter. At the end of the quarter, he'd done none.

The next quarter he wanted to try again. I suggested two. He came back having done none.

What we worked out was that he'd picked parkrun because I do parkrun. I walk it. It wasn't his thing.

So this quarter he's trying something different: a morning walk around the block.

I'll let you know how he goes.

Pick the part of your day when you're at your best, and give it to one small habit that's yours.

One business owner I know regularly goes to a shooting range. He told me: "If you don't slow down and focus, you'll never hit the target."

That's what the habit is for. It doesn't add to your list. It slows you down, so you stop rushing.

So, how do you look after yourself?

Stop running on empty. Start building margin.

This comes from Chapter 3 of my book, 3 Months Forward: Stop Running on Empty. Start Building Margin. It's an Amazon best seller.

Get it here (a quick sign-up on the way to Amazon): https://3mf.mykajabi.com/3mf-book

Want hands-on help? Comment below or DM me.

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