So where are you going at work? Have you a plan? A goal? Even a humble aim? If you don’t have any of these, chances are you’re going to drift. If you do have a plan, you stand a better chance of getting to where you want to be. Knowing where you want to be is 90 per cent of the battle. Knowing where you want to be means you’ve sat down and thought about things, that you’ve been conscious about your future and have focused your attention on it.

Once you’ve looked ahead and decided where you want to be – and there is no right or wrong about where that is, you can be as determined and ambitious as you want – you can plan the logical steps you need to get you there. And once you have those steps, you can work out what you need to do to make each a reality. Is it further qualifications? Experience? To change jobs? To change the way you work? Whatever it takes for you to make those steps is what you have to do. Don’t stagnate. Don’t get stuck in a rut.

We all need to work to earn a crust. Staying at home watching daytime TV really isn’t an option. Work keeps your mind fit and active as well as getting you in touch with other people, and work also presents a daily challenge. Believe you me, we are better off with it than without it.

If you don’t have a plan you could end up anywhere. Yes, sure that might be exciting but I doubt that many people end up happy and successful merely by chance. It’s something you have to work at, consciously. And having a plan is part of that conscious effort. I know luck plays a crucial part in some people’s lives, but only a very few. And formulating a plan and working hard while you’re waiting for the luck to turn up doesn’t mean that it won’t, or that when it does you aren’t free to throw away the plan completely.

If you’re not busy planning and working towards the next goal, there is a real chance you can fall into a downward spiral of despondency and apathy. Successful people have ‘get up and go’ – and when they don’t have it naturally, they artificially create it. They pretend to if you like, but the very act of pretending gets them up and about. Try it, it works.