A few weeks from now we will all be making resolutions for 2011, and many of us will include something about health and fitness.

It’s always a good idea to look after our health. When we work for ourselves there is extra reason to stay healthy.

One of my resolutions for 2011 will be to be a Bad Patient.

Which is what I was “accused” of by a local medico when I visited the local health centre a while ago.

I can’t recall what the particular medical reason was, obviously nothing drastic enough to remember: I may have been getting a script as backup for a trip. But as the doctor I had seen previously wasn’t available I found myself being attended by another doctor, the owner of the practice.

As I entered, he looked up from his records and said “You’ve been a bad patient!” For a moment I was nonplussed, then saw the hint of a smile. “You haven’t been coming to see us.” “That’s because I’ve been well,” I said, somewhat superfluously.

That hasn’t always been the case. But these days being well and fit is my normal state.

We solo bizoids, especially, need to keep healthy

And as well as being a much more pleasant way of living and working than having to cope with illness, as many people do, it’s important to be healthy – crucial in fact – if you work for yourself.

In 2006 I reflected here on the topic with my post If You Own a Small Business You’d Better be Healthy. On commenter observed at the time that I was probably referring to working solo, which was a fair observation, although I can think of a number of small businesses that could seriously lose momentum, or even go under, if the owner took sick for any length of time.

And as I indicated in that earlier post, having income maintenance insurance did not help me when I really needed it as the insurance company basically weaselled out of paying, with a spurious argument that even embarrassed my insurance agent. Certainly that is no argument against having insurance (just do your best to establish that the insurance company will behave ethically when and if a situation arises).

But I doubt that anyone sensible, including the ironic doctor of my story above, would argue that prevention – i.e. keeping healthy – is better than cure!

I count it a great blessing that I am very healthy these days and it sure is more fun to work healthy than the alternative in the past, when I have had to struggle sometimes, when not well, to keep the business afloat.

So I am really focused on being a Bad Patient in 2011.

And what if it was catching?

Image credit: “Doctors at the General Assembly” by Waldo Jaquith – Creative Commons license