On Tuesday night, January 10th, I started feeling weird. I was having dinner with Dan Cogan, a client of mine in PA, and started having that “is it a cold, allergies, or just fatigue from flying and working all day” feeling. I knew something was up because I’m usually not distracted when talking with Dan. He’s one of those conversationalists that isn’t the small-talk guy. I don’t think I’ve ever discussed current events with him. We dig right into meaningful topics. I enjoy our conversations. About half way through our meal at the Ale House, I started really feeling fatigued and my throat was a little scratchy – I was distracted.
About a week later in San Diego, I was laying in my hotel bed fully dressed, and completely exhausted at about 3:45 pm, local time. Twenty minutes earlier, I was leading an awesome and engaged audience of about 100 sales people at a client’s annual kick-off meeting. Now, I was ready to be the first person in history to call 911 for a cold. Nope, it wasn’t allergies or fatigue. I was sick.
As I type this on February 9th, I’ve still got tissues next to my laptop and two tablets of Mucinex left. I woke up this morning feeling about 95%, with some junk still in my chest… an entire month later. While I catch a cold every year, I can’t remember one lasting this long. Well, as I reflect on the last four plus weeks, I realize that I’ve learned some lessons from the experience and thought I’d share.
The 80-20 rule is alive and well. We’ve all heard about the Pareto Principle, or more commonly known as the 80-20 rule. In summary, 80% of the affect is delivered by 20% of the cause. An example might be that 80% of the work at your church is done by 20% of the volunteers.For the most part, I’ve spent my days the last few weeks in session with my clients and back at my hotel in bed. I typically work on the road from the time I wake up until bed, so I don’t have to at home. That’s a lot of missed productive time that I’ve had in the last month. I knew this and had to focus on the top 20% of activity that made 80% of the impact. Guess what? I’ve pretty much kept everyone happy so far. I’m way behind on some non-client items, but I’ll catch up. I kept my clients happy while having only 20% “desk time” that I typically have – simply by focusing on the most critical items.
Sleep is underrated. We all know this, so I’m not enlightening any of you. However, I had no idea how much our bodies did during deep sleep. When I realized that my cold was going to join me on the road, I read several articles on mitigating it. Of course, they all mentioned rest and sleep, but when I read a few articles about sleep I was blown away by the power of our bodies during sleep. Perform an online search of “benefits of sleep”, and learn what happens. We turn into superheroes during sleep. Our brains recharge, our immune system gets to work, our muscles grow, etc. The most valuable outcome for me so far in 2017 has been my fuller understanding and appreciation of regular and uninterrupted sleep.
Always work ahead if possible. I realized how busy January was going to be for me a while ago. With annual sales meetings, and new 2017 projects with clients, I was going to be slammed and on the road. I had some time off the road the last few weeks in December and decided to push it hard to get ahead instead of easing up at the end of the year. I did a lot of my “January projects” in December… and that’s made all the difference. I’m so grateful for those 12-hours days the week of December 19th. It was difficult to do while everyone else was winding down and celebrating, but it means the world to me right now. Without those long days, I would be looking at several weekends in the office.
So, that’s it. Use the 80-20, get some sleep, and work ahead when possible. Don’t struggle through four weeks, four time zones, two countries and seven cities with a cold to learn these lesson – just trust me.
