What is it about New Year resolutions that gives them a bad reputation? They seem to come with a built-in  'failure' setting.

Is it that they are a one-week or even a one day wonder?

If we slip up once, do we abandon them again for another year?

Are they not specific enough, as in "I'm going to lose weight", but without having any clear target in mind?

New Year resolutions tend to be big on wishful thinking and short on what's needed to achieve the End Results

In my formula (with apologies to Prof Einstein! ) E= MC2, E stands for  Excellence (or even End Results), M stands for Motivation, C for Competence (actually having the skills and knowledge to achieve your goal ) and the second 'C' stands for Commitment.

Motivation - Why do we want it? How badly?

Competence - Do we have the information and skills we need? Can we walk the talk?

Commitment - Ah, the big 'C' of goal reaching!  What are we prepared to sacrifice in oreder to get the desired result? Can we say goodbye to wishful thinking and yes to upping our game?

When all is said and done, it's mostly down to those three little words - 'Just Do It!'.

No excuses, no exceptions, no giving up just because we slip once or twice and, most of all, no fooling ourselves.

Maintain focus on the end result.

The book   gives an overview of the many areas with which a Club must comply.

Legislation covering subjects from employment to child protection, to health & safety and equality all impose requirements on the managers of business and Clubs are no different.

For more details, go to www.complianceforclubs.com

What assumptions are you making that might be limiting your field of vision, blocking your view, getting in the way of progress, holding you back, stopping you making a breakthrough, moving on?

Praise might be seen as an invitation to ask for a wage increase so it can become a matter of communicating the gap between existing performance and the ideal. The employee is put on the defensive.

But what if we treated the review as an opportunity to look for the positive.

What if we asked questions such as, "Are we fully utilising your talents?" , "What is it about your job that makes you jump out of bed in the morning?" "What stops it being your dream job?", "What you would like to change?", "What might cause you to leave?"

If we open up to the potential of people to enrich their work experience rather than remind them how far their performance falls short of 100%, how much better the workplace might be.

How do you feel? What message do you think your friend is sending you? What message do you take from the incident?

Now imagine a friend, colleague or business contact sends you an email and you choose not to reply.

What message are you sending? 'You're not important to me', 'Your agenda doesn't interest me', 'I'm not interested in engaging with you', ' I'm not obliged to reply to you'. Not very flattering!

What message is the sender getting? All of the above plus, perhaps, 'this person can't manage their Inbox', 'this person is inefficient', 'this person is ignoring me so I'll take them off my contact list'.

Your management of your communications is an important part of your personal PR.

In these times, a contact is valuable resources- use it or lose it!

A friend is priceless. Treat him or her accordingly.

But 86% of of the working population are still working. 100% of the population still have to be fed and clothed. Whether the economy grows at 2% or 1% hardly makes much difference especially since the figures aren't accurate anyway. So don't let the big picture overwhelm you. Look at the smaller picture that you are a part of.  

Concentrate on your own business. Look coldly at how its performing and remember "if you keep doing what you are doing, you'll keep getting what you're getting" . Are you clear about where you are in terms of cashflow, profitability, indebtedness etc. What is your cost profile - does it make sense compared with your turnover and margins. Get on top of the numbers.

Be clear about where you want to be in 12 months time; be informed; be realistic; be prepared to make tough decisions; be prepared to scrimp on everything if that is necessary for survival; be open to new ideas.

Look at all your options. Contract, expand, change the way you do business, shed unprofitable business and customers, shed unnecessary costs.

Talk through your issues with a trusted advisor or a business coach. Be prepared to take action. Don't just sit there - do something!

For example, a 2% point increase in VAT is assumed to automatically generate additional tax revenue. But what happens if, say, a retail business has to offer substantial discounts in order to get business in a tough market and turnover still drops? Or what if more businesses close down in a declining economy. That would mean less tax overall, not more.  

The only certainty is that we simply don't know what even the next days or weeks have in store for the economy. Changes at the European macro level might render meaningless the adjustments brought in by the budget.

So much is outside our control that we have simply to mind our own businesses and our own wellbeing. Be grounded in the reality of your own circumstances, face up to that reality and take the necessary steps to ensure your own survival.