The Doctor Who Won’t Take His Own Advice

Have you ever been to a doctor who is clearly a bit overweight or has one drink too many, yet gives you absolutely brilliant medical advice? You take it because it works, even though he doesn’t follow it himself.

That is most of us in business.

We can see with complete clarity exactly what someone else should do. But the moment the problem is our own, we freeze. Over 45 years, I have helped directors make and save millions, yet there have been times I didn’t have the guts to apply that same advice to my own life. The clarity I could give a client in five minutes, I would agonise over for weeks when it was my own situation.

I don’t do that anymore. I use a simple trick.

When I am faced with a tough decision, I stop thinking of it as my problem. I ask myself: if a company director came to me with this exact situation, what would I tell them? Then I give myself that advice. Cold. Clinical. Honest.

I have two non-negotiable rules for this.

First, do it somewhere quiet with zero interruptions.

Second, act on it that day, not tomorrow. I write a small action plan exactly as I would for someone else, and I do the first thing on that list before I go to bed. The moment you take even a small action, the weight lifts.

What decision are you carrying right now? Imagine your best client came to you with it. What would you tell them? Take your own advice.