I think too many times when we as business people consider working a budget, we don't take into account budgets are both logical and emotional documents. Budgets are, properly done, cold emotionless facts about our business and they just seem too "impersonal" and "judgmental" about what is most personal to us; our business and how it is doing.

To me, a budget is the single greatest weapon I have to control stress. If I can sit down with a calculator and know that my figures are accurate, and I do it in a timely fashion; I will know exactly what and how much I need to do in order to be comfortable with my plan. The single largest factor involved in stress is lack of control! And how can you control your business if you don't know what it is doing?

Many times we see people who control their concern by keeping themselves in the dark; other times folks just over project and work the numbers, which then leaves them really out of touch because they can't believe their own plan. Generally speaking, not budgeting is a method of avoiding facing the unpleasant realization that your budget is not where it should be…and the time lost can make the difference between success and failure.

So the first thing to realize about hesitating over a budget is that part of that reluctance is emotional, and allow for it, and then get over it. Sam Walton (founder of Wal-Mart stores) said if you don't know what it costs, what it retails for, how much profit you make on it, and how many you are going to sell; you do not know your business.

Sam Walton also used to ask crowds of us at stores what the first duty of a business was. People would talk about customer service, friendliness, low prices, location, guarantees and all kinds of things.

Sam Walton said," The first duty of any business is to make a profit. It doesn't matter how low your prices are, how good your service and guarantees are, or how friendly you are. If you don't make a profit, your impact will be minimal because you will go out of business !" So we should all understand that profits are not only good (wonderful), they are absolutely necessary ! I don't care if you are selling widgets, packaging widgets, or shipping widgets, it all gets down to this. No profits - No widgets.

So if we know we need a budget and we know we need a profit; What's the problem? Many people plan and execute, but they don't react! The amount of time it takes you from the time you realize there is a problem to the time you start working to solve it, has been called "Sense of Urgency". Mainly people do all the other things I have mentioned, but when the plan starts to go off budget they just freeze up! Lack of a sense of urgency has killed many, many businesses.

To recap: Budget, Track, React! Control your business and your stress by working from knowledge, and reacting to adversity!