Do yourself a favour and get an annual medical check-up. And don’t be like some people and treat it as a game of hide and seek, leaving it up to your doctor to flush out your problems.
If you own your business, your family will thank you for taking care of your health. In her early forties, an entrepreneur thought about her fifties – what if she fell ill? How could she make sure the business would survive? She realized that keeping 100% ownership was a huge risk, tantamount to putting all her financial eggs in one basket. After some research, she invited in a Private-Equity partner who paid her for 40% ownership. This allowed her to take cash off the table to invest in a range of stocks, including RIM which scorched up the stock exchange. When, in her mid forties, she was diagnosed with cancer, she was able to take the time out to recover because the private equity partners took over the management. What a relief not to have the business entirely on her shoulders so as to be able to concentrate on her good health.
An ounce of prevention is worth its weight too – and we’re not just talking about an apple a day. Recent studies show that communal activities such as singing are good for you. During the tense closing of a financial deal, a Bay Street lawyer announced to her clients that at 7.00pm she needed to go to her weekly choir practice. She returned at 9:00pm refreshed and happily hammered out the contract by midnight. Telling your client you’re off for a song break might bring you a frosty reception but maybe we could all take a leaf out of the song book of the USA Presidential races. Oprah and Obama lead the crowd in a song and dance, Mike Huckabee strummed a mighty fine tune on his guitar and then there’s that grey-haired veteran of charmers, Bill Clinton, and his sax (OK – let’s not go there.) Perhaps Stephen Harper, on a special occasion, should give his pipes a blast and get Michaëlle Jean to sing along too – for the health of the nation.
There’s something, too, about having a network of people who know you (and not just superficially or merely agree with you to keep you happy) but keep you real. A happy you translates into dollars for your business revenues. Over the past year, Britney Spears was estranged from her mother (your mom will tell you the things you don’t want to hear but should), divorced her husband (who wouldn’t) and fired her long-term management team (big mistake). Then her network became Paris Hilton and the Boom Boom Room crowd and has now moved on to the lock-down medical team at Cedars-Sinai. As Warren Buffet says, the secret to his success is who he has around him. You are who you hang with; choose your network wisely.
It’s astonishing to realise that modern medicine has advanced exponentially over the past ten years, maybe not as much as foreseen by Arthur C Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. We do not in fact have a space station with a large computer called Hal going postal but we do have women doing so on a monthly basis. Ladies, help is available. Ask your doctor about the research. If you think it should be illegal to have a cheerful and bouncy musical called Menopause and that Apocalypse Now would be a far more suitable description, then you are due to call your doctor. No need to scare your staff every month with your Linda Blair imitation.Doctors have their list of Seven Worst Things for a Patient to Do during a medical visit and at the top is chatting away about Michael Moore’s Sicko movie, and then at the door on the way out mentioning a lump, “But it’s probably nothing.” Make a list. Your doctor will appreciate that you want to be a partner
If you own your business, your family will thank you for taking care of your health. In her early forties, an entrepreneur thought about her fifties – what if she fell ill? How could she make sure the business would survive? She realized that keeping 100% ownership was a huge risk, tantamount to putting all her financial eggs in one basket. After some research, she invited in a Private-Equity partner who paid her for 40% ownership. This allowed her to take cash off the table to invest in a range of stocks, including RIM which scorched up the stock exchange. When, in her mid forties, she was diagnosed with cancer, she was able to take the time out to recover because the private equity partners took over the management. What a relief not to have the business entirely on her shoulders so as to be able to concentrate on her good health.
An ounce of prevention is worth its weight too – and we’re not just talking about an apple a day. Recent studies show that communal activities such as singing are good for you. During the tense closing of a financial deal, a Bay Street lawyer announced to her clients that at 7.00pm she needed to go to her weekly choir practice. She returned at 9:00pm refreshed and happily hammered out the contract by midnight. Telling your client you’re off for a song break might bring you a frosty reception but maybe we could all take a leaf out of the song book of the USA Presidential races. Oprah and Obama lead the crowd in a song and dance, Mike Huckabee strummed a mighty fine tune on his guitar and then there’s that grey-haired veteran of charmers, Bill Clinton, and his sax (OK – let’s not go there.) Perhaps Stephen Harper, on a special occasion, should give his pipes a blast and get Michaëlle Jean to sing along too – for the health of the nation.
There’s something, too, about having a network of people who know you (and not just superficially or merely agree with you to keep you happy) but keep you real. A happy you translates into dollars for your business revenues. Over the past year, Britney Spears was estranged from her mother (your mom will tell you the things you don’t want to hear but should), divorced her husband (who wouldn’t) and fired her long-term management team (big mistake). Then her network became Paris Hilton and the Boom Boom Room crowd and has now moved on to the lock-down medical team at Cedars-Sinai. As Warren Buffet says, the secret to his success is who he has around him. You are who you hang with; choose your network wisely.
It’s astonishing to realise that modern medicine has advanced exponentially over the past ten years, maybe not as much as foreseen by Arthur C Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. We do not in fact have a space station with a large computer called Hal going postal but we do have women doing so on a monthly basis. Ladies, help is available. Ask your doctor about the research. If you think it should be illegal to have a cheerful and bouncy musical called Menopause and that Apocalypse Now would be a far more suitable description, then you are due to call your doctor. No need to scare your staff every month with your Linda Blair imitation.Doctors have their list of Seven Worst Things for a Patient to Do during a medical visit and at the top is chatting away about Michael Moore’s Sicko movie, and then at the door on the way out mentioning a lump, “But it’s probably nothing.” Make a list. Your doctor will appreciate that you want to be a partner
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