It doesn’t take any real skill in business to sell your soul and get paid.

I’ve been guilty of it, and if you’ve been in sales long enough its likely you have at times too. Countless salespeople follow this seductive and destructive path their entire careers and many are happy doing it.

When bills are bleeding us dry we often resolve to do anything to survive. An alternative is to simply do nothing and let the salivating jaws of procrastination consume us.

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An ex-business partner of mine would declare in an ominous tone, “Keep them hungry!”

He would achieve that by paying staff late or reneging on owed commissions.

Dripping with resentment because of that treatment many staff resigned, while others low in self-esteem and desperate would accept reduced commission to simply pay bills and survive.

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Every time I take a flight I’m mildly entertained by the same trite safety spiel, which contains a statement I think transcends the aviation industry:

“In event of emergency, first place the oxygen mask over your face, and only then over your child’s.”

To do so may appear initially as a selfish act , but it expresses you need to save yourself first in order to stay conscious and alert to save your most cherished.

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To project to others that we are always happy, having fun and in a positive frame of mind every day is just pure fantasy.

We all feel pain and frustration and all of us most certainly feel fear. In fact, for many of us, fear defines who we are and our corresponding thoughts and behaviours are governed by fear’s close relatives: anxiety, procrastination, stress and worry.

Let’s explore fear a little closer. What is fear? Fear results from the threat or potential to experience pain. What is pain? Pain is the sensation felt when the brain releases certain bio-chemicals in our body to alert us of physical danger — such as cutting our skin or breaking our arm. Pain preserves us from continuing to harm ourselves once injured in some way.

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