2017: A Year of Challenges!

2017 is fast approaching and will soon be upon us. The year will certainly have challenges. Just as the early part of the century tried us, so will this year. The century was off to a bad start with the Y2K scare and the horrific events of September 11, 2001. As time went on we had close, divisive elections and one of the greatest economic downturns in our country’s history. Now again we are faced with a divisive election and the global threat of terrorism. Despite all of the negatives many have managed to both survive and thrive. What are some things we can do to have a better chance of succeeding in 2017 and beyond?

One of the great lessons of the first seventeen years of the century is to expect the unexpected. Whether in the business world or our personal life things just don’t always go the way we thought they would. The unexpected could be a fire, a storm, a prolonged illness, or even an unexpected windfall, but as we have seen in the past, the unexpected will happen. Certainly our recent election produced the unexpected! History tells us we will see many more this year.

Once we have had the unexpected happen we need to “roll with the punches” or as Charlie Rich sang “so on and on I go, I keep on rolling with the flow.” If we can change and redirect the unexpected we must do so, if not we have to adapt to the change and continue moving forward. If we are stiff and resist changing times we delay our movement towards solving our problems. As a nation we need to pull together and move in the same direction for the good of all concerned.

Preparation is another key to success as we move into 2017. We must keep preparing for the direction our efforts will take us and also prepare for those “unexpecteds” as they happen. We don’t need two plans, but rather we need plans coming from our preparation efforts that must be both specific enough to lead us and flexible enough to move in the direction or directions change takes us. If we can anticipate some of the issues that we might face we can escape being reactionary and thus save a lot of time in the process.

Preparation gets us ready to face events and working the plan or following through puts us in position to gain outcomes. Once the plan is worked and outcomes are achieved we can fine tune the plan so that the goals of the plan can be met. If there is a shortfall adjustments need to be made and we once again need to “keep on rolling with the flow.” Seldom does a plan work out exactly the way it was formed.

One final thought for achieving success in 2017 is to have patience as the year unfolds. Events and happenings in our life can get us too optimistic or too pessimistic about results. New leadership will hopefully provide direction that will solve problems. Things can start bad or good and can go the opposite as the year unfolds. If we apply the thoughts we have discussed and give them time to work we have our best chance of positive results and a successful 2017, individually, collectively, and as a nation.