Preparation

As I write this we in the south are preparing for a couple of days of winter weather.  We react to messages of snow, ice and sleet by running to the store and buying copious amounts of bread and milk.  I do not honestly know why we do that but it is how we cope with winter weather.  But the truth of the matter is that we need more than milk and bread to make it in bad times; we need to be prepared beforehand, not rushing around at the last moment to put something, anything together.


That is how we should react when it comes to our organization.  Running around in panic mode never serves us well.  As a matter of fact, it only promotes a sense of panic which grows in many cases to almost epidemic status.  People begin to realize that the only time things get done is when there is a panic.  So, people create panics in order to accomplish things.  We need to stop that by being prepared.


Granted you can never know everything that is going to happen in the coming year, but as we begin a new year, we need to be focused on getting our operations in order to make the most of the year to come.   That means starting out with a plan, and given that you may be out of the office for a day or so, why not take the time to write up a plan if for no one else but yourself and what you want to accomplish this coming year.  Make it have adequate goals - making a million dollars when you work at a $40k job is not realistic.  But give yourself plenty of challenges.  Try to come up with new ways, better ways to do the same things you have been doing routinely.  Challenge the people around you.  Even if they do not respond, continue to challenge yourself.  IT makes you a better person.


Management and administration should be seeking to lay out new options to the same old tired ideas.  Be open to new materials and directions.  Never let the idea of we have always done it that way continue to impede your growth as an organization.  What, you do not "grow"?  If your organization is not in the mindset of growing then you are in trouble.  Everything that is alive grows.  In people, in operations in activities we grow because it is a sign of life.  Plants grow, but they need a few things.  What do you need to grow this coming year?  


Make your list, be prepared.  Even if you are made fun of make a change in the organization, be it work, church or social responsibilities, but your best into it and make a difference.  People may laugh, but when the weather is bad, and you are the one with electricity, food and warmth when the neighbors are eating bread and drinking spoiled milk, they will realize who was the one they should have been trusting.  Make a difference, plan for the best.