Sometimes, no plan is the best plan
Grand schemes rarely come to fruition, so often the best strategy is to be ready for opportunity when it knocks
Phew, we are now on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year and it's a full month since the passing of that other New Year, so enough time has elapsed for us to ignore, or should it be, conveniently forget, all those sterling resolutions we made on the cusp of the year.
Yes, I know that some people swear blind that they make resolutions and stick to them but then again some pigs can fly. Seriously though, when it comes to the world of business, new years are a menace because they attract the attention of pundits, soothsayers and all manner of "experts" who are keen to peddle their predictions and advice for what is, after all, nothing more than a date shift.
The reality is that almost all businesses run on cycles. In my business, we have predictable peaks and troughs throughout the year and knowing when they occur is helpful for planning purposes. Other businesses are subject to less predictable and longer cycles.
But however and whenever they occur, fighting cycles is a mug's game. For example, in the current depressed property market, there is little that estate agents can do other than sit it out. Businesses trading in products or services heavily dependent on the weather are very cycle-prone but they sort of know when changes of weather will occur even if exactitude is problematic and abnormal climatic events keep occurring.
None of this is an argument for fatalism in the running of business but it is a modest suggestion that some things can be planned and some can't. Moreover, there are times when you have little choice but to sit out a bad patch and prepare for better times. On the bright side, unexpectedly good things can also happen, but note that word: unexpected.
So, that's why I question why a new year is better than any other time to set about planning. Yes, I know that some people see the change of the year as little more than a pretext for all this forecasting stuff but I am suspicious of grand plans and tend to keep well away from companies and individuals who are full of them.