How to avoid Entrepreneur’s Disease
by Fred Roed on 13/08/07 at 12:05 pm
8 comments
I sit before my laptop this morning with a violent case of Entrepreneur’s Disease. This is nothing nice. Right now, my eyes are puffy; my mouth is clammy, and it feels like I have a ninja star lodged in the back of my throat.
I am at home, after phoning in sick this morning. It’s probably the second time in two years that I’ve phoned in sick. Mike (my business partner) and myself have this saying, kind of like an army gung-ho sort of thing: ‘Only phone in sick when you can’t even get to the phone from your bed.‘
So what exactly is Entrepreneur’s Disease?
After a quick search on Google that revealed nothing, I realise I have carte blanche to make up the definition on the spot. This affliction, common around winter time or during business recession, is a bastard hybrid of Legionnaires Disease, hives and Yuppie Flu. Symptoms include sore throat, wet cough, back pain, cramps, headaches, dry cough, ulcers and intestinal bleeding. There are more, but that’ll do for now.
The dead give-away, when identifying Entrepreneur’s Disease, is that it only happens to entrepreneurs. It usually occurs after a prolonged battle, about 3 weeks or so, when the entrepreneur in question has been feeling continually worse over that time. Conversation will have been peppered with remarks like: ‘I refuse to get sick now!‘ or ‘I can’t afford to take a day off!’, and of course, the old classic, ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead!’
Family and friends of the entrepreneur would have pulled clumps of hair out to try and get the person to see a doctor, take some medicine, or, at the very least, reduce the amount of caffeine intake.
After this period, there are two potential outcomes. One, the entrepreneur rides out the storm and triumphs over the pesky ailment – usually celebrating with a Businessman’s Breakfast at the Mugg & Bean, served with extra grease. Two, the bacteria teeming inside our hero declare victory by suddenly pulling the handbrake on the entrepreneur’s daily grind. This second outcome usually hits with the force of ten-hundred pound hammer. The entrepreneur is floored, wondering ‘Where the hell did that come from?‘
The entrepreneur’s wife / girlfriend / business partner / secretary / employees are left holding the can, frantically phoning all the scheduled appointments to postpone. Our hero, meanwhile is lieing in bed, clutching his pillow, feeling very sorry for himself. Every now and then a faint groan can be heard from his bedroom, wowing to take more notice next time.
And so, in the interest of my fellow entrepreneurs, I have put together this handy ‘How to avoid Entrepreneur’s Disease’ list:
1. Listen to those voices of dissent. When your girlfriend looks at you and says ‘You look like s&*#!’ this is not because she’s trying to sabotage your productivity. It probably means you should rejig your schedule and fit in a session with the doc.
2. Be preventative. Last year, the Roed family went on a winter course of Viral Choice, and it worked wonders. I reckon it also saved us thousands in medical bills. We didn’t do it this year, and now I feel one of the victims in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You could also join a gym, start running or take up surfing (if you live in Cape Town).
3. Invest in Medical Aid. Over the past few years in business, I’ve been shocked to see how businesspeople I’ve met don’t have adequate medical cover. It’s fine when you’re healthy, but it’ll hurt you when it hits.
4. Eat apples and nuts during the day. Oprah swears by it, so it’s got to be good. Apparently there’s something called ‘boron‘ which you get from the combo which gives you a boost.
5. Halve the amount of coffee you drink. That leaves me with around 5 cups in a day, so I’ll give it a try. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.
Karin H.
Aug 13th, 2007
6. Take ‘quiet’ time off. This doesn’t mean taking a holiday or a an extended weekend. No, just take 10 – 15 minutes a day, after working hours, in the garden (if you have one and the weather is nice of course, otherwise a comfy chair in your den, home study or chase everyone out of the living room) to contemplate on the day past. Just ponder, floating on thoughts. NO thinking of new ideas, give your poor brain a deserved rest from all the hustle and bustle of your normal working day.
Does wonders for your state of mind and hence your physics.
Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
Gerhard Pieterse
Aug 13th, 2007
Eat Healthy – Yes, mom, don’t yes mom me, just do it.
Drink A Lot – Water, to flush the system & coffee, yes you can get more KAFIX (Kafiene Fix) out of a cup of Greek/Turkish than out of most medication. Which bye the way is what they use in medication to make you feel better.
Wiskey is also very good for throat infections, consume until you feel sleepy, and repeat daily.
TCMG
Aug 13th, 2007
All I can say is…..”I told you so!”
Freddo you make me laugh, well done
P.s the TCMG says…..listen to your body, it knows best.
Mike
Aug 13th, 2007
Yikes Fred, not nice at all. Gotta take it easy my bru. Hope you get better soon. I’ve also recently resolved to drink and eat less, and better. It’s high time.
Believe it or not, I actually had Legionnaires disease once…
Fred
Aug 13th, 2007
Thanks for all the advice guys – I actually feel a little better now.
Karen: very ‘zen’… no wonder you always sound so calm, cool and collected in all your posts.
Gerhard: my dad used to give me whiskey when I was sick even when I was a laaitie – I reckon I’m immune to it now.
TCMG: ha, you didn’t get spammed by the Ideate filter…! Welcome to the whitelist!
Mike: honest, I didn’t even know what Legionnaire’s disease was, it just sounded good. Looked it up though and it sounds a lot worse than what I have now… sheesh, hectic brother.
I did get shot once though, but that’s for another post…
Henre
Aug 14th, 2007
Funny post mate. I’m not an out and out entrepreneur, but I do believe being in Small Business the elements are much the same.
Got the same treatment from the GF the other day (and mom actually) to get to the doctor, which of course I didn’t. So after a week of suffering I finally went to the ER (public holiday an no doctors) for a quick check up and low and behold, administered to hospital for serious dehydration and total lack of anything healthy in the system.
Had a good rest over the weekend and back in the saddle. Now if only I could shake this cold…don’t have time for a visit to the doctor.
Fred
Aug 14th, 2007
Thanks Henre – take care of yourself!
WormY
Aug 23rd, 2007
So true many times we forget that if we break down the actual business itself suffers, and if only we stop for 1hr to take the correct precautions things would have been a little better.
And Yes Medical Aid is just so important.