Carreer and Life Obstacles

Most of us have better days than others, whether it’s in your personal life or your business life. Ever lose that big sale at work, draw a blank on creating a new marketing program, can’t seem to “crunch the numbers” to reach a budget target, or forget your laptop when you need to make that big presentation? What about when that TV breaks down the morning before the Superbowl and you’ve got 25 people coming over for the game? How about when the car breaks down on vacation? Ever spill coffee on your dress shirt on the drive to a meeting with an important client? I have….more than once too!


We all had days like this and they’re not enjoyable. But we can find ways to effectively deal with them. I try to live by a simple quote: “Always look up, always get up, and NEVER give up”. This simple quote has helped me through more than 20 years of working in a high pressure corporate sales environment, always under constant pressure from managers and executives pushing for higher performance.

What I’ve found to be helpful in dealing with pressure from our “bad days” is to simply take a short break, whether it’s a 10 minute walk around the building, a 30 minute trip to the driving range to hit a bucket of balls, or something as simple as sitting on a bench at a park by yourself to clear your head. This process is equally effective if you’re at work or at home, but you must remove yourself from the source of the stress and clear your thoughts.

Whatever works for you individually doesn’t really matter. Unfortunately, people who are unable to successfully break from the source can literally be taking years of their life. I’m not a doctor but it’s a well known fact that stress is one of the leading factors to high blood pressure which is known as the “silent killer”.

Take my fellow New Englanders as an example. Undeterred by the ~70” of snow we’ve received in Boston so far this winter, undaunted by the ice dams and leaks in their roofs, unfazed by the high cost of oil and gas heat, and let’s not even talk about the high unemployment rates, the majority of the quotes I heard from people on the news today involved quotes like:

“I love the snow. We’re from New England. Deal with it”

“It was my choice to live here, no one else’s”

“I’ve got a snowblower. It’s not so bad.”

“We’re comfortable driving in this stuff. We do it every year”

Now these people have conquered their stress and learned to live with it. All of these quotes came from people interviewed by newscasters who walked up to them while they were sitting in snarled traffic due to today’s storm.

So remember, when you get off that bad phone call, after you rip your best $100 shirt or blouse getting something out of your car, or go through whatever event in your life that causes stress, try your best to get away from it and clear your thoughts. Remember, it’s “only a job” or it’s “only a shirt” and get over it. You’ll feel better and you’ll probably live a lot longer too.

Tomorrow brings a new day so remember to “Look up, Get up, and NEVER give up!”