Welcome to the dawn of 2004! It seems like just yesterday we celebrated the new millennium, let alone the year 2003. As we live our day to day lives, time in the larger sense seems to fly by. Seasons change, New Year's resolutions become dusty and dated and suddenly here we are again with a clean slate before us.

Kate Moore, RPR MQ Editor

Most of us take some time around now to evaluate where we are and where we are going in a personal sense. Good intentions abound regarding exercise, diet, cleaning out that horrible cupboard full of junk, and whatever else we may have been avoiding for the past eleven months.

But what about taking stock in the professional sense? Why not take the opportunity to evaluate where we are in our careers and where we want to be? What is the forecast for employment in your industry or profession this year? Maybe this is the time to challenge yourself and make the leap to a new position. Or you may be inspired to check out opportunities for professional development in an effort to advance in your organization.

For those who are happy in the jobs they currently hold, what plans might you have for your department or division? Granted, your fiscal year may not follow the calendar year, but it never hurts to stop and look up from the endless pile of tasks on your desk to see where you are relative to where you need to be.

Business owners may look at their business plans and reevaluate based on what the new year may bring economically, politically or legally. Will the results of this year's Federal election impact your business in any way? What about the value of the Canadian dollar, the American economy or interest rates?

Often it is so much easier to roll with the punches, rather than being proactive and planning for contingencies. But having a business plan and sticking to it could mean the difference between successfully navigating a year fraught with uncertainty or sinking along the way. Statistics show that more people than ever are striking out on their own to form new businesses. They also show that those who start with a sound business plan and stick to it are far more likely to be successful.

In the end, then, rather than making New Year's resolutions to become a better person, or exercise every day, perhaps it is more productive and realistic to evaluate our professional lives and plan where we want to go from here.

Kate Moore
MQ Editor