Looking Forward/Looking Back

As we stand on the threshold of a new year, it seems particularly appropriate to remember that January is named after Janus, the two-faced Roman god of beginnings and transitions, who looks back to the past and ahead to the future; and to take a moment for reflection.

It’s a time to review the past year to see what worked and what didn’t. It’s a time to analyze successes and appreciate them. We should never take our achievements for granted, or skip over them.  Each successful venture has something to teach us and helps build confidence in our investment strategy and our ability to execute this strategy. And each points the way to even greater successes as we move ahead into 2012. 

It’s also a time to take a good hard look at what didn’t work out and why. The goal is not to beat one’s self up over mistakes but rather to find and extract lessons learned. As Tavis Smiley points out in his excellent book, Fail Up, it’s not the failures that matter, but what we learn from them and how we use those lessons to change our behavior that will help us progress. It’s the old idea of turning stumbling blocks – big challenges - into stepping stones.

When reviewing the past don’t be discouraged: a project that didn’t work out can be a protection– one of Garth Brooks’ beneficial ‘unanswered prayers’. And if the failure was your fault, if you feel you could have handled a situation better, make any needed apologies, learn what you need to learn so you don’t make the same mistake again, and then move on. Often we learn more from our failures than from our successes, so keep the lessons you learned, they will strengthen your foundation for progress. But don’t carry regret or worry, guilt or discouragement into 2012. 

            It’s a time to look ahead with confidence and expectation – even excitement - to new opportunities and adventures. We can’t know exactly what the future will hold in the way of challenges or opportunities. Last January who could have known that 2011 would see interest rates drop below 4% or that at year’s end hedge funds would be moving back into the real estate market: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204296804577124991922170830.html.  But with a consistent strategy in place: (http://novarealestateinvestor.blogspot.com/2011/11/planning-for-success-developing-focused.html) we can be prepared to deal with those challenges effectively and recognize and seize those opportunities.