James has it all, the latest BMW, the flash office, the personal secretary, a wonderful wife and model children.

The financial services business is absolutely booming, the "pot of gold" has just opened two new offices with 12 new staff and the purchase of another in a nearby centre. 

My first meeting with James was not of his choosing, so I found out later. His doctor and wife bullied him into taking action, which was most unusual as James was a man of action, he just couldn't stop. 

"I'm not really sure why I'm here" he exclaimed "but I suppose seeing I was told to make the appointment, which I did  I figure I'd better do the right thing by you", he said. 

We sat and discussed where he was with his business and family life and what he did outside work. As we discussed his business successes it was evident here was a man who was passionate about his business, helping his clients, seeing his staff succeed, the epitome of success. So much so he had no time for his family or himself as I was to discover. 

James used to fly gliders and had achieved some notoriety for his skills. But that was before the business took over.

"Why did you give up flying?" "Didn't have time" ... came the blunt reply. I'd hit a nerve by the tone of the response. We sat in silence until James became uncomfortable with the lack of interaction. 

The flying stopped when his business took a hit during one of the interest rate hikes and all "unnecessary" spending had to be put on hold. James problem was he got so tied up in the business recovery he'd forgotten to find the switch to take it off hold. 

Yes the business was booming, the flash house, cars, boats, holidays, private schools, overseas trips were now possible and barely made a dint in the income he was generating. What came with all of this, was the cause for his grumpiness; high blood pressure, diabetes, overweight, 4am starts and 6pm finishes and so on. James was on the treadmill, to the outsiders he had it all, when he felt like "absolute crap on the inside". 

In seeking to keep his business alive he neglected himself and his family, he'd lost sight of why he was doing it. When he did discover it he couldn't stop, as much as he hated the hours and himself for working those hours it was like a drug. 

An ambulance passed by siren's blaring, lights flashing. His sentence froze ... and took off in a different direction when he'd collected his thoughts. 

"I need to change cos if I don't, I'll need one of those" ... pointing to the disappearing ambulance. 

Over the next 4 weeks James worked diligently observing everything he did on a daily basis and asked himself ...

• Do I need to do this?
• Does anyone need to do this?
• Can someone else do this?
• What would I rather be doing that was more productive?
• What is my best contribution to the business?

Each week James stopped doing something, actually lots of things. We agreed that for each thing he crossed off the list he had to spend an hour less at the office. The first week saw him at home until 8 am he actually ate breakfast with the family. His son jokingly said to his wife the first morning this happened ... "Who's the strange man that stayed over last night mum?" 

As funny as it was James confided that it held so much truth he wanted to make the big shift he knew he needed to make but wasn't game to voice until now. 

I'm stepping down from being the Mr Do It All, I don't know how but its gonna happen and sooner than later. 

• Gone went the notion that for things to be compliant didn't mean he had to do it all.
• Gone was the notion that he couldn't put on a business manager and spend more quality time with clients.
• Gone was the need to work during school holidays

The next 4 months focused on establishing systems to make the whole business industry compliant, without the need for James to be there every minute of every day. 

James called the other morning, from somewhere in the European Alps; he was on a skiing trip. He wanted to arrange a meeting over lunch sometime the following week. He had a new idea he wanted to discuss and went on for about 30 minutes about it. 

The call ended with him saying ... "you know Einstein was right ... you can't solve the problem with the same level of awareness that created it.