Why paying attention can save you paying a heavy price

“We’ve got to do it very quickly, otherwise you’ll lose the use of your right leg.” Urgent advice from Jitesh’s surgeon. A momentous event that had small beginnings — picking up a box.

Jitesh was one of my spoon-by-spoon interviewees. In 2000 he was working for a consulting firm in the Middle East. “The client had sent a huge box of files and things. It was a Saturday and we were working late. I foolishly picked up the box.”

His back gave way, but he got it treated. After a while the pain subsided and life carried on as before. Long hours, no exercise and no follow-on physiotherapy. A few years later it happened again. “Things just broke and I had to take time out. I had a spinal blister. The spinal fluid leaked and was pressing my sciatic nerve. They had to operate to remove the blister and stabilise my back.”

In 2017, whilst Jitesh was on holiday, he picked up a heavy bag and it triggered a third episode. By then things had reached a critical point. “That’s when I paid attention, but it was too late to do anything without surgery. The nerve had pretty much become dead.”

“With hindsight, I could have prevented it getting to that level but I didn’t really do anything. I didn’t pay much attention.” In my 100 interviews I’ve heard this many times. We just fail to notice soon enough.

Catch it in time and we get to decide the outcome. Leave it too late and it’s not ours to choose anymore. “It got to a point where I had…