On the seventh day, God rested.
But for four years I didn't!
Eventually my body said no more.
I was laid out on the couch for two full weeks, wiped out, stressed and exhausted. Four years of continuous thinking, strategizing and deliberating had taken its toll.
You see, on top of running my businesses, I was involved in a major campaign to clean up the air in Prince George, once considered the armpit of Canada.
The campaign had been considered by many to be a success. Our group had garnered the support of the community, we had negotiated with government and industry had come onboard and worked considerably to reduce their impact on the air shed.
Odour had been cut by 60 per cent and particulate that effects the lungs had been reduced by 40 per cent. We had made a difference, but each and every day for those four years I had been working on the project - even on my days off - and I was paying the price.
One of the key principles of many of the creation stories integral to the major world religions is the concept of having a day of rest.
I am old enough to remember back to the days when almost every business would be closed on Sunday. Sunday was a time for church, socializing and family dinners. You wouldn't drive by a construction site and see workers, there would be no road works, no grocery shopping and no car sales. Now, things are different. But should they be?
Just as I worked myself to exhaustion because I didn't give my brain a rest, many of us have given up on the thought of having a day off each week.
Many of the women I know work all week and the weekend is a special time set aside for working at home, doing laundry and cooking up a storm for the coming week. Many of the men I know work five or six days a week and on their day off are busy fixing up the house, completing the honey-do list.
Business owners are working seven days a week to ensure that their business, which they now feel needs to be open seven days a week, is running smoothly. Many business owners, even on their day off, are thinking about the business. They can't shut their minds off. They are frazzled trying to figure out how to get that business working better, how to get it making money.
But does all this busyness pay?
My partner in our retail stores insisted from day one that we should be open long hours, seven days a week. While I disagreed, he was putting up the money and had a little more pull at that time than I did.
For many years, being open late and opening on Sunday was a convenience for our customers that didn't really pay.
A few years ago, we cut back on our hours, and measured the difference. I also decided to start closing one of our locations on Sunday to see if it would make a difference. It was hard to find staff who wanted to work Sundays. In reality, Sunday sales were only marginal.
The truth is that cutting our hours and closing on Sundays did make a difference - a positive difference!
Closing Sundays did not hurt the business, in fact our sales did not drop. People who were shopping on Sunday now came during the week. Saturdays became a little busier and so did Monday.
The cool thing was that because we cut our hours and we closed Sundays, the business became more profitable because our labour costs were reduced. My staff members were happier as they didn't have to work on Sunday and were able to spend time with their families. Everyone seemed more rested.
We think as business owners we need to continue to drive harder. We imagine we need to push ourselves, our staff and our organizations to work more, go further, and have greater sales.
But the truth is that our bodies end up saying no, our mind needs a rest, and our staff need to have breaks. Even our customers seem to appreciate us more if there is some scarcity.
Working harder doesn't make more money. Working smarter does. We need time off to think about other things, to recreate, to refresh our minds and bodies, socialize to refresh our spirits, and contemplate to replenish our souls.
If I would have been able to turn my brain off more during our air quality campaign, or close that store on Sundays years before, or have more "do-nothing days" with my family, I truly believe that I would be further ahead today and I would not be suffering the lasting effects of years of chronic stress.
How often are you having "do-nothing" days? Is your body starting to say no to working so hard? Does your business really need to be operating all the hours that you are open or could you cut back?
Whenever we make business decisions we need to measure the results over a period of time.
Cutting back on our evening hours and Sundays was measured in terms of dollars. Our sales did not drop but our labour costs did.
Perhaps the great religions have it right in having a day of rest. Maybe you need to think about how you can work less so you can earn more.
Dave Fuller, MBA, is a certified professional business coach and the author of the book Profit Yourself Healthy. Email do-nothing [email protected].
