I'm a morning person and most days I wake up rarin' to go. I make calls and return e-mails. I write material, plan upcoming speeches and workshops, go on sales calls and all the other 1001 things I need to do to keep my business running efficiently and effectively. Being a morning person, I have a lot of energy when I first get up so I plan my day accordingly.

I also know that I often "fade" mid-afternoon. Sometime around 2:00 or 3:00 I seem to lose my "spark" and often feel like I'm nodding out at my desk. (This doesn't happen for me when I'm speaking or training...an attentive audience keeps me juiced all day long) The little voice in my head starts whispering to me, "Maybe I should take a nap."

Being my own boss and working from home allows me some luxuries that you don't have if you work for someone else in an office. If I take a nap, I'll lose productivity since I can't be working while I'm sleeping but who's going to complain? The boss is me and while I may feel a twinge of guilt, I'll get over it.

So, do I take the nap? Well...I'd be lying if I told you I never succumb to the temptation. In fact, when I do give in to the urge I'm re-energized when I wake up which means I can go back to my desk and be more effective than if I had kept on working while not mentally and physically sharp. BUT, it doesn't happen often because like you, I need to make a living and every hour spent snoozing is an hour I'll never get back.

Even though I work for myself, I'm also working for others. I have three gorgeous young kids who I help to support so the first thing I do when I feel myself getting tired is I take a long hard look at their pictures. (which are posted, by the way, right above my desk so I can easily look up and see what I'm working for) Often that's enough to pump me back up to full capacity. I sometimes take a quick break...walk a block to the beach with my dog, do a run to the post office, or anything else that gets my blood pumping again.

You see, I realize that especially in a "challenging" economy, the pleasure of the nap is outweighed by the pain of the lost productivity and if I'm going to accomplish my goals it's usually far more important for me to get as much work done as possible rather than indulge myself in the sweetness of a catnap. These days I have to make more calls and see more prospects than last year, simply because many budgets are strained to the max and it's harder to find prospects that are interested and can afford my services. If you offer a product or service that makes sense to people almost everyone is interested but if they can't, or won't, pay you they aren't prospects right now.

This pain and pleasure principle can be of great use to you. We are almost always motivated by gaining pleasure and/or avoiding pain. If you can attach enough potential pain or pleasure to a goal you have a great likelihood of achieving it. For example...if you want to lose weight you might visualize yourself at the beach flowing out of your bathing suit while people point, stare and snicker at you. You might also see yourself laying on a hospital gurney being wheeled into the operating room to fix the heart damage you've caused with your overeating. Or, you might see yourself fitting into your "tight" jeans and having people look at you with admiration as you walk down the street. By attaching enough pain or pleasure to a goal you give yourself a much better chance of sticking with what you need to do in order to get where you want to go.

Should I take a nap? Well...it's only 12:45 p.m. as I write this and I'm still feeling pretty strong! I can't tell you how I'll feel in another hour or so but you can bet that if I start to fade I'll be thinking of the joy on my children's faces when I took them to Disney World in April and then on a Disney Cruise and was able to afford it easily. And I'll think of the days (thankfully in the distant past) when I used to get calls from bill collectors. I'm betting that my choice this afternoon won't include me snoring.

A side note: Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to write after learning of my motorcycle accident. Your kind words and concern meant, and mean, a lot to me. I'm almost 100% healed and was given the green light last week to start riding again. There's a new Honda VTX 1300C sitting in my driveway calling to me as I write this but I think I'll do some more work and save the ride for this evening!

As always, please call or e-mail if you have any questions or there's anything I can help you with.

Make It Happen!

Jeff