Over the last few weeks I have been exploring, not because I consciously wanted to, the concept of pressure and how it can impact my life. Some of my clients have been dealing with a similar challenge and I thought it would be a great idea to post something about this today, to leave you to think about.

For some time now, I have believed that the harder I work, the better the result. Even though that hasn’t been true for me in the way I’ve gone about it, that didn’t deter me. Being an entrepreneur and health professional, I fell into the trap of ‘all entrepreneurs work crazy hours and don’t switch off because that’s just the way’. I started to realise pretty quickly that this concept doesn’t apply to all of us out there. We all have different approaches to life, business and how we manage ourselves.

What made this idea stand out even more in my mind that it’s not a ‘one size fits all’ way of looking at life was when I had a personal training session about 2 weeks ago. For the last 4 years, when I have trained at the gym, I have a specific way I like to work out. The movement is slow and continuous. The weights aren’t super heavy and the sessions are short and sweet. I decided to try a different approach with my person trainer. I pushed heavier weights, worked harder and a bit faster. As a result, I came very close to passing out after I was done and to add to that, I was out of action for 5 days. It took too much of a toll on my body. It became very obvious to me that working out in that way and also applying that same mindset to the way I do business, is not for me.

Then I asked myself, is there such a thing as too much pressure? Well that all depends on who you are. We all have different ways of handling life and this is determined by the way our body and mind operate. Some of us love being quick and on the go, pushing hard and achieving massive goals in a short amount of time. Some of us love to move slower and take our time, pacing ourselves and seeing a bigger picture before we take action and achieve our goals. Every one is different and that’s what makes life so interesting.

So before you take your next action step towards achieving your goals, ask yourself – is this the best set forward for me or am I trying to be like someone else? The answer to that question could help you save time, energy, money and most importantly, prevent you from getting sick or feeling emotionally stuck.