Bad day at the office? Try these life hacks from the military

“Do not waste a single vertebra,” says Major General Paul Nanson CBE, in Stand Up Straight, his book of life lessons from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he serves as Commandant. With a career in the British Army spanning more than 30 years, Nanson is no patchouli-scented shaman. His Sandhurst hacks have seen him through The Troubles, the Gulf War, the Bosnian War, the Iraq War, and the war in Afghanistan. So I reckon he’s reasonably well qualified to dish out advice.

“I’m a great believer in healthy body, healthy mind. If you’re physically fit, you’ll be more mentally fit,” says Nanson, who takes his morning run as an opportunity to reflect. On Nanson’s watch, a run is not just shuffling round the park resisting the urge to buy an ice-cream. It is Command Time.

“Getting off the computer and out of the office gives you the time and space to think and consider your own life, and the decisions you’re about to make,” says Nanson, who tells me he wouldn’t be without his daily physical.