I've just discovered that a number of members of a senior management team with whom I've been working, as they face into a major challenge in terms of additional work they have to deal with, have one major fear... that one of more of their number will suffer as a result of the related stress to the point where they might even - and I quote - kill themselves trying. Well, if you start anything with a thought like that, what do you think will happen?

Our lives are self-fulfilling prophecies - it was Henry Ford who said 'if you think you can do a thing or if you think can't do a thing, you're right' - what's going on in your head ends up going on in your life, whether you're aware of it or not. So, if you think you'll get stressed, you will. And, if you do, the chain of chemical reactions brought on by stress (that put the digestive system on 'low' and the immune system on 'stand-by' whilst putting the circulatory system on 'high alert') will bring about all those related health problems.

And it all started with a thought. If you find yourself having such thoughts... control yourself, take charge, pull yourself together and get on with what you should be doing in a manner that will simply get it done - no matter how apparently great the task.

Your life's in your hands - how safe a pair of hands are you?