Can Anybody Find me Somebody to Love?

Brilliant lyrics from Queen that say so much, but alas they may well have been his undoing. Freddie Mercury was out there – he was wild, untamed, in his heyday extremely promiscuous and in the end his partying and all the other antics that were part of his repertoire took him at a very early age. Far too young.

This begs the question: did those who died young from partying and living in the fast lane go happy? Would they have changed what they were doing had they known it would bring a premature end to a glorious career and life? There exists the unfortunate “Dead at 27” club – Janice Joplin, Jim Morrisson, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Henrix and Amy Winehouse, all gone with so much more to give. Were they so disturbed and mentally imbalanced from the drugs and partying that there really was no way they could have come back to the straight and narrow? It could be said that Robbie Williams would have joined that club along with Russell Brand but fortunately both managed to turn the corner before falling into the abyss.

You have those that hit the wall at high speed without a care in the world for any consequences to themselves or those around them and go young, or you have those who don’t. A great friend of mine Richard Wilkins uses the phrase, “NLE” – Near Life Experience, those who have been alive but have never actually lived. Our challenge, I believe, is to find the level of living that is right for us – after all, hard drugs and rock and roll is not the calling for most of us. Counter that with those who never quite found the reason to try, the burning desire to have a go or were blocked by a wall of fear, doubt or self-belief which prevented them from even trying.

When I eventually go I do not want it to be said that I didn’t try, that I sat back and watched, I was a spectator rather than a player, I could have achieved so much more. All of these phrases send shivers down my spine. I personally need to know and believe that I have given everything my best shot, had a go and played full out, and I know there are times when I fail to achieve this. We have all lost family friends, relations, parents and close mates far too early, I believe they all had more to give, help and provide. So if the same is said about you today by those in your life that you have so much more to achieve and deliver, what are you waiting for? You know the phrase “Carpe diem” – “Seize the day” There is nothing wrong with now, stop FAFFing about and get on with it.

At any one time there could be 20-40% of staff off on holiday during the main holidays, any more than that and the company would have issues trading. Turn this around and this means that 60-80% of staff are still at work at any one time during the holiday season. How quickly do you need answers? Can they not wait two weeks until the decision-maker comes home from holiday? This doesn’t mean you should give up trying to get hold of them; you should continue as normal and follow up as normal. Using seasonality as a reason not to make the effort is simply lazy, get on with business as usual, leave messages on answer phones and emails with assistants and stop FAFFing about avoiding doing business.