I must say I am dizzy with the daily onslaught of doom and gloom presented to me by the media. They say that next year we will have a contraction of the economy of one percent or so.

Does that mean 99 percent of the economy is in good shape? Or does that mean I no longer have a business? I suppose no one can tell me.

I would like to think that 99 percent of the business is still there and I should get my share of it even if it is less than before. With that in mind I must believe I will survive this slow period.

A lesson to set your watch

At breakfast the other morning, I asked my daughter how many timepieces she thought we have in our home and cars. After some deliberation she thought we had about 20 of them.

They may not all give the right time, or function at all but we have many pieces that tell the time.

I thought there may be more, and after some careful counting I discovered we had 40 instruments of some kind that can tell the time. Is this madness for three people living in one place to have so many places to look at what time it is?

Over the years, how many times have they all had to be set, cleaned, repaired or even replaced? How many times have I had to just touch them? Wouldn't having only one timepiece make my life much simpler?

Simplify and analyze

When you look at your business, ask yourself how many things you do on a daily basis that have little to do with what the customer wants. For example, go through a typical sales process before you actually make a sale. Define the process in stages.

Record the process and look for redundancy or flaws, and over time you will streamline the process.

Record the jobs you got and why you think you got them, but also record those that you did not get and why. Before long you will become smarter and use time more wisely.

Eventually you may choose to disregard all those areas that bore no fruit.

With more time on hand you can look for more customers who suit what your business is about. Then you will have more business, and life will look good again.

For myself, I think my New Year's resolution is to spend some time getting rid of a few of my many timepieces.