But wait, didn’t we just celebrate New Year a month ago? Well, guess what, now we have a second chance. Living in a diverse city such as Vancouver, where we have large Asian and Iranian populations, we actually get to celebrate three New Years: January 1, Lunar New Year (February 8 this year) and Iranian New Year (on the first day of spring). Actually both Lunar and Iranian New Years are, among many other things, spring celebrations, a sensible time – arguably – to celebrate the start of a new year, a time of rebirth.

So, yes, if you made New Year’s resolutions in January and failed to keep them (does anyone actually manage to keep them?), don’t worry, you have a second chance! And with spring just around the corner, it does indeed seem more like a time for reawakening and new beginnings.

So what does all this have to do with your business? It’s a useful second chance – just a month into the new calendar year – to evaluate which of your new ideas and plans are working for you, which are not, and which never got off the ground (and why). Hopefully, this will give you insight into what is successful and what is more challenging.

We are not suggesting the more challenging ideas should be abandoned, just perhaps approached from a different perspective. Increase efforts on those ideas that you have managed to implement and re-evaluate those that you may have tried but are not working for you. And what of those failed resolutions? Did you resolve to be more organized with paperwork, achieve a better work/life balance, take an hour’s break for a walk outside every day? If you haven’t managed these things, don’t beat yourself up – and don’t give up! Re-examine them and the reasons why you haven’t managed to achieve them.

Do you need to put new systems in place to organize your office? To reschedule to ensure that you get a decent break during the day instead of skipping lunch and rushing from one task to the next? Could you work from home one or more days a week to save commuting time? If you already work from your home office, could you reschedule your work tasks so that you can get to that afternoon yoga class or your child’s soccer game, even if it means sometimes working in the evening or on the weekend?

Already working flat out on evenings and weekends? Perhaps it’s time to consider delegating or outsourcing. So – welcome February, the first signs of spring and a second chance to make improvements that you can live with (rather than resolutions that are almost impossible to keep). Happy Lunar New Year!