At all times - or as often as is humanly possible - you need to get a sense of who you are, where you are and how you're feeling... just at that moment.

So drop everything - metaphorically speaking - and take a moment to see, feel, hear, smell and taste.

Come to your senses - you've five of them, use them, pay attention to them.

Nobody does it better... no, not a James Bond themesong, a reference to red tape - a la Francaise! Last week's Gallois Report into the competitivity of French industry bemoaned the culture of bureaucracy and the 'cult of red tape'.

But what do you think the very next item on the French evening news was?

A woman - who does not possess a driving licence, never owned a car and has never, ever driven one, received a demand for €2,950 - in respect of non-payment of speeding tickets!

A case of mistaken identity? Yes. Would any official admit the mistake? No. The woman in question has had to hire a lawyer!! As a leading lawyer opined: "The photos were taken by a machine, the fines were printed by a machine, the demands were issued by a machine!"

That said, perhaps a machine would provide a more logical solution for the poor woman than her having to go to court!

I recently had a long chat with a client who, as we finished, told me that, every time we sit and talk, her mind explodes with possibilities and new ideas. As we agreed, however, new ideas and possibilities just remain as such until we do something about it. Or, more to the point, do something about the ideas and possibilities that due reflection has told us are worth pursuing.

Again, another client recently wondered aloud as to just how many great ideas he had had over the last few years that never saw the light of day through inaction on his part. Again, the issue of doing arises - but the issue of doing allied to knowing what the right things to do are!

Visualizing a bright tomorrow requires action be taken today. Some are attuned enough to already know the key things they need to be doing - or not. That, by the way, doesn't necessarily mean they get done, however. Others are not yet even in the starting blocks - not having determined, in their own minds, what there priorities or objectives are. If you don't know that, you cannot know what you need to do to get you to where you don't know you want to be!!!!

But, say you have a dream. Say you know, in broad but sensory terms, what you want to achieve. How come so many of us do know the objective but still have difficulty doing? Often, doing requires that we nudge ourselves outside our not-too-uncomfort zone! Doing demands focus. Doing is demanding. Yet, without doing there is no arriving. There is no achievement. In fact, there is, ultimately disillusion.

So, here are the key questions. Do you know what you should be doing today? If you don't, find out. If you do and you're not doing it, don't ask why, don't feel guilty. Stop what you're currently doing and do the right thing.