Isn't it interesting how much time we spend worrying about stuff? And it's usually stuff we have absolutely no control over. Once one of these worries gets into our brains it kinda careens around like a drunken taxi driver in one of those massively reliable and roadworthy Toyota minivans with darkened windows proclaiming "Big Boy", bouncing off the insides of our skulls and crashing into the good thoughts we might occasionally have - like the positive feelings we have about the employment equity act, or our upcoming SARS payment. And even when we CAN do something about this worry, we don't because we're too busy worrying to actually do anything!

There is an old adage that those who fail to plan are planning to fail. But how the hell do you get time to plan when there so much action going down each day? So here is a quickie suggestion. Take tomorrow off to do some planning! If that's going to result in the closure of your enterprise - then it's more like a razor blade than a business and you'll be better off anyway doing something else. [If you're an employee, rather than an employer, and the business will fail because you've taken the day off - you might want to bring this fact to the attention of your boss and immediately negotiate an increase in salary and benefits.]

That single day of thought - about where you're going and how to make the trip more fun - will pay for itself 300 times this year.

The concept of marketing is one of the closest to my heart because the best source of money for any business is ... your clients. Unlike a bank they don't want you to repay them with interest [unless you're really, really bad]. The only way to find more and better clients is via marketing. But marketing requires some thought and planning - usually some time before the results start to flow. Yet our days are tied up with all sorts of daily urgencies, emergencies, crises, and other time-suckers that are usually completely unimportant. But WOW can these attention diverters increase the stress levels today. Next month when you have no sales then the stress levels go into overdrive again and it's time to get some Zantac. If you can't do anything about the problems, at least you can feel good about your business sailing into the drug induced bliss of oblivion.

Marketing is the best investment you can make. The reason most of us invest so little time and effort in this activity is that the time you put into it today will usually only bring benefits into the future. Unless, of course, you spend the day doing some internet marketing - and then the time you put into it today brings results by tonight. That's one of the many reasons why the internet is so exciting.

That's probably not going to happen because we worry that we don't have time; don't have the right skills; don't have the money to invest; don't have the right equipment; the equipment isn't big enough; the equipment is too old; the roof is leaking; don't forget to get Chinese on the way home; should I get the prawn chop suey or the chicken chow mein; maybe vegetarian would be better because there is always the risk of botulism or salmonella; is this ache in my leg deep vein thrombosis; why do my clothes feel so tight; I haven't thought about sex for at least a minute and the national average is once every 9 seconds - is my sex drive collapsing; maybe I need viagra; but what about the heart attacks and the blue tongue; oh hell, is that all there is in the account; why aren't folk buying this month; what can I do about the Middle East situation; why don't people like my company; ... ... ...?

Apparently we think about 60,000 thoughts each day. I know this because Deeprak Chopra counted them and since he's written a few books he must be a reliable source. How about we focus a few more of those thoughts each day on preventing humongous hassles tomorrow rather than solving the minor challenges of today? And maybe a little less time worrying about the things we can't do anything about, and invest a little time into areas where we can make a difference?