Queen Elizabeth II once described 1992 as her “annus horribilis” – the year when the marriages of her two sons broke down and her beloved Windsor Castle caught fire. For many of us, 2009 was our annus horribilus. Full of bad news, dire warnings, slow sales, and business failures, we’ve all dramatically lowered our expectations and goals. The fear is that things were so bad this past year, that anything will be an improvement.

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