Protecting Your Most Important Small Business Asset
Look After Yourself
By Stuart Livesey
Toni and I were talking to another couple last week who operate a small business. We were chatting about the challenges all small businesses face and they mentioned the matter of health and wondered what they would do if they both fell ill.
What would you do if you fell ill and were unable to work for any length of time?
Of course illness can strike at any time but you can take steps to protect yourself from some of those problems through exercise, limiting the amount of time you actually spend working each day and eating the right foods. But sometimes there are circumstances that can affect your health where the things I’ve just mentioned won’t be of much help.
Right now we’re in the middle of summer and our offices here at home are not air conditioned (and won’t be till next summer). The day before yesterday the temperature in my office got up into the high 30’s (around 100 F) and yesterday it was set to do the same.
Fortunately I was able to escape to the airconditioned comfort of the computer shop. While I’m never as productive there as I am here I was certainly more productive than I was if I had tried to work here in that heat.
But if you’re home office gets hot in summer and you can’t escape you need to take precautions to safeguard your health. You need to drink plenty of water, you need to set up a fan or two (I have a ceiling fan here and I sometimes bring in a pedestal fan as well), you need to take regular breaks and go somewhere in the house that it might be a bit cooler and even be prepared to have a couple of cool showers throughout the day.
Heat stroke and dehydration can soon set in and once they do your productivity will sink to zero very quickly. And the effects can last for days so look after yourself, you are your small business’ most important asset.
