The Carpenter: A Story About the Greatest Success Strategies of All

Chapter 4Stressed

Michael woke up in the middle of the night and looked at the clock: 3:33 AM. He tried to go back to bed, but couldn’t. He had another nightmare where he was fighting for his life against faceless people, battling for unknown reasons. In this nightmare he was screaming for help but no one could hear him. Everything was happening in slow motion as he tried to evade his attackers. They were closing in and were about to ambush him when he woke up in a deep sweat with his heart racing and head pounding. He had been having trouble sleeping the past few months, which had contributed to the stress that ultimately caused him to pass out during his run. While he was recuperating the last few days he had read a book on stress and sleep that described the vicious cycle he was caught in, in which stress affects your ability to sleep, and then a lack of sleep causes more stress.

Sarah and his friends kept telling him that he needed to relax, but how could he relax when he was building a business, and his family and company were depending on him? How could he relax when he had been in sales his whole life, and now an entire company was looking to him for leadership and guidance? Every decision he made mattered and had repercussions for employees, clients, and families. When he was in sales, all he had to do was sell and collect a large paycheck. Now he was the one signing the paychecks. He had mastered the art of sales over the years, but no one had taught him how to lead ...