In accounting, periods are important. A period can be a day, a week, a month, a quarter a year etc. Some systems even utilize minutes and seconds and in the sciences and engineering micro seconds. Such periodic reports can shed light on otherwise difficult to observe change and establish the all important trend.
A big part of using periodic reports is to have comparable data so comparisons can be made. Did we pay more for paper towels this year than last year? Did we make more profit last year, and if so why? All manner of questions can be asked and if the data is available and organized in readily accessible reports, you can answer many of those queries.
But in human life, as the old year ends and the New Year begins, few go beyond the proverbial New Year's resolution when considering the change to a new period. A new period brings the opportunity to review and make changes or reinforce successes. In a way, the self promise to take off 10 pounds is a review and subsequent change to improve a condition considered undesirable. .
A question I ask myself is how happy my life is. Is it more or less happy than last year. It can be quantified. Whatever the answer, I look for anything specific that can be improved. More time in the barn with horses, less carbohydrates, more exercise, more attention to income and keeping it, more love to my children…take your pick. And of course, in this day of falling marriages and birth rates, maybe some should ask why.
Big areas of life often lay outside of immediate control. A war starts, the stock market crashes, you win the lottery, a drunk backends your car, all and more fall under the sands of time. The aggregate actions in time bring a lot of randomness. Hell, even the sun plays a huge roll and who ever thinks about that other than scientists. In a sense it governs the fortunes of most whether they know it or not and acquiesce to it or not. To influence this, many pray imploring good things from God. I see nothing wrong in that unless they leave it all up to deity and cease their own efforts. The fisherman who prays for a new boat yet goes out on the lake in his unrepaired leaky one gets no quarter from me. Come on, a little fix up isn't too much to ask.
As 2023 ends and 2024 begins, hope is high that it will be a better year. But what will you do to make it so? Hope is certainly an important element in humans. Without hope, most give up. But hope alone is not enough to make it a better year. Hope plus dedicated action toward betterment has a far far greater chance of success. I will have high hopes for all I can influence and plan to continue being a good value as a source of thoughtful actions and advice. I am not a genius, just a conscious and conscientious man. I hope you agree and do your best to make this New Year your best ever.
Happy New Year!
Donn Marier
DM-Your Own CFO