Time to get back into the race as we start this new lap of the steeplechase we call life! And that's particularly important to us business owners because we tend to be so focused on our goals that we forget about having fun as we run. And we forget that the obstacles are part of the process and part of growing - which leads to lots of stress, anxiety and wasted effort.

So here are a few predictions for this year - and a few thoughts about the way we're each going to respond. SA Revenue Services will invite us to pay them PAYE/SDL/UIF 12 times this year; VAT 6 times; Personal tax twice, and corporate tax twice. And we're going to feel frustrated and unhappy about it. Yet if we simply accept that this is part of the lap we're running in 2003, then we can get on with the good stuff. [Of course, there is always the choice we can make to head for a place demands less tax!]

A few planes will crash this next year; a few more wars will break out; and there will be a whole bunch of natural disasters. And 99.999999% of all these events won't touch our lives personally - but will be depicted urgently on our TV screens in graphic detail. This will cause us to worry about stuff that we can't do anything about - rather than allowing us to focus on the good stuff we do have right now, and can influence. But if we accept these events as part of the flow of life and rejoice in the fact that we're doing OK today, then surely that's going to make it so much more fun to be alive this year?

Your bank will increase your charges or reduce your overdraft or refuse your request for more borrowing. You can get upset when it happens, or you can choose to do something about it now - get 8 credit cards for exactly those emergencies; start building relationships with new banks; start tightening the cash flows;...

These are important issues because so many of us seem to spend huge amounts of time fighting issues and tilting at windmills that are so far away from what we're trying to achieve with our lives. [That's assuming, of course, that we actually have a reasonable idea of what that is!]

Steven Covey writes about our spheres of influence in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - and discusses why it's silly to worry about stuff that we have no control over. yet we business owners worry about so many things that we can't control - instead of looking at the things we can.

Bottom line - each of us can make the choice right now to enjoy the variety and excitement of 2003 as it unfolds. We can choose to be like a yacht, free and flowing with the wind and the waves, enjoying each day as we get closer to our goals. Or we can choose to hop into a rubber ducky, give the engine full throttle and try to hammer our way through those same winds and waves in a rush to get somewhere - never slowing down to savour the experience, and using inordinate amounts of energy to get wherever we're going.

If you see someone this year with a handkerchief hanging from a pencil stuck in his cap standing in a puddle and waiting to see which way the wind is blowing - that would be me trying to get maximum value from my year. Let's have some fun together this year, and if we manage to scare a few bank managers in the process - so be it!

© Peter Carruthers, www.petesweekly.co.za

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