The Future Starts Here…

Charles F. Kettering once said, “We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there”.
As we head into the next decade what should we be concerned about?  Well, the economy is still shrouded in a great deal of uncertainty – with mind numbing levels of debt that somehow need to be reduced without snuffing out the weak shoots of growth that we are beginning to see.
And then, just when we thought it was getting safer to travel, a fanatical student is stopped a few seconds away from causing an airborne catastrophe – resulting in severe restrictions once again on hand luggage and an increase in security delays at our major airports.
And, sadly, the death toll in Afghanistan continues to rise and stability in the Middle East seems some way off yet.
But these are global issues – what should we be concerned about closer to home?  Hands up those of you that have formally or informally set out some New Year’s resolutions – perhaps to lose weight after the Christmas festivities, to give up something, to run a marathon or to invest time in a new hobby or activity?  And what about our working choices?  Will this year be the same as last year with a simple change in the last two digits of the date or are we looking to do things differently this year?
Certainly, if you work on an annual performance basis, all the figures have just been reset to zero and those targets and budgets will be looming large.  Don’t however fall into the trap of thinking that at this stage you have a year to hit those budgets – rather think more about what you can achieve in this first quarter to make the targets and budgets achievable.  If you miss the first quarter or even first month then you will be playing catch up for the rest of the year.
If you haven’t done it already, spend time now developing a plan of action for 2010.  If you don’t have a plan your strategy must be hope and, frankly, hope is not an effective strategy.
Take some time to plan for the year ahead, don’t just leap into action and assume this year will be the same as last year or need the same activity as last year.  Figure out what numbers you need to change – to improve, to reduce, to increase…..  Set out a plan of action and then move to execution.  Get ahead of the game and identify your priorities and keep them to a manageable number – do a few things really well.
So, we would like to wish all our readers a Happy and Prosperous 2010 and we look forward to sharing some more musings with you throughout the year.