Recharge your battery

The long hours and stress are taking a toll on you and your performance. Really. You may feel like you are being effective and are a bundle of energy. But until you take a break, you'll never realize you're actually a bundle of nerves. Stress has a way of subtly taking over so we don't notice its effects.

Taking time off to recharge your batteries can do wonders for you and your sales. In his best-selling 1989 book, "The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People," author Stephen Covey's seventh habit, "Sharpen the Saw," is "preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have—you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal." (It's a good book, at times a little dry, but makes some strong points about being effective and living by the Character Ethic.)

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