I'm sure you know of someone like that. They get up at crack of dawn, drag their weary bodies out of house and head off for another exciting day at work. Ten or twelve hours later they head home totally exhausted with all their energy sapped from their body.

They might make effort to find out how rest of their family's day has been, even read their children a bed-time story. Finally after having something to eat, taking a hot shower or bath, they then veg out on couch. They immerse themselves in newspaper (again) or watch news or some mindless television show (if they don't fall asleep beforehand).

And this is a common scenario for many people who work for someone else! I can understand it if you own your own business where there's so much extra pressure riding on you, yet to sacrifice so much for someone else???

The Solicitor I met Jerry at gym. He was telling me that for past two years he has been working at a legal firm in city. An average day commenced at 8.00 a.m. and finished at 7.00 p.m. Working weekends was common. Lunch breaks and time off were unheard of. This was culture instilled at his company! No wonder staff turnover was high!

Here was a young man, only 25 years old, absolutely stressed to max.

He felt he was on a rollercoaster and couldn't get off.

Clearing Clutter Jerry was so entrenched in his situation he couldn't clearly see what he could do. He felt powerless so did nothing.

I suggested to Jerry he write a list of all options open to him. Some of these were:

In fact, whole process was (thank goodness) totally painless, even afterwards. All I had to do was rest my voice and not speak for 48 hours! I’ll also be undertaking voice lessons to ensure I protect this valuable instrument.

Now to men reading this, avoiding opening your mouth for that period of time would probably not bother you. However, for a female it is a very hard thing to do. We like to talk in case you hadn’t noticed.

According to research, women speak around 30,000 (that’s right guys) words a day and men (if you’re lucky) speak around 10,000. So that’s a ratio of 3:1.

Interesting, isn’t it? So how does this work in daily life?

She Says – “He just doesn’t listen”

He Says: “She talks too much”

In their best-selling books “Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps” and “Why Men, Lie and Women Cry”, Barbara and Alan Pease say:

Women Talk, Talk and Talk " When a woman talks she often uses indirect speech. This means she hints at what she wants or infers things.

Women's indirect speech has a purpose - it builds relationships and rapport with others by avoiding aggression, confrontation or discord.

When women use indirect speech with other women there is seldom a problem - women are sensitive to picking up real meaning. It can, however be disastrous when used on men.