New Years Day is just another day.
It is just another first day of another month that just so
happens to mark the beginning of a whole new year.
Yet, we give that day an amazing amount of power.
That day is supposed to be the day that we stop overeating,
the day we determine to shed extra pounds, perhaps the day we decide
to stop a bad habit. In
truth, those decisions could just as easily be made on May 15th,
or August 23rd, or October 5th.
But, we save them for the most powerful day in the year,
January 1.
In business, cycles begin and end on dates but
not because of dates.
Despite this fact, I doubt there was a single hardwood lumberperson
who didn’t have in the back of their mind that January 1 would bring
a better set of circumstances for our industry.
Did it?
I would contend that the real power of New
Years Day is the psychological impact of exiting one situation and
entering a new and possibly better one.
This could be done on any day, as mentioned, but it is
convenient to coincide it with a big event like the beginning of a
new year.
Are things better for the hardwood industry?
If you have travelled early this year to gauge a sense of the
tone of the market, you would have 10 different answers to that,
some positive some negative.
There are however certainties. For one, the industry is not
what it was. It does not
have the production capacity that it once did.
While availability of specific items may not evidence less
capacity, we must appreciate that low demand for our products is
masking a precarious supply situation.
Another is that noone is operating the same as they were four
years ago. If you focus
on the lay off and contractions, you don’t feel quite so rosy, but
those difficult situations, made every company that has survived
leaner, more efficient, stronger, and better at making decisions.
The lessons of the last four years are of the
lingering, not fleeting type.
We won’t soon forget the differences between how our industry
is now versus then, and likewise we won’t forget the differences
between operating as we did then and as we have to now.
New years Day is really about realization.
The realization that time continues to pass, and we have a
choice. We can lament
the things that have occurred, or we can appreciate the lessons we
have learned from what has occurred.
And, if the determination to make a resolution persists,
resolve to have a positive outlook centered on solidifying the
strong relationships that are the foundation of success in this
industry, and to do the things it takes to continue to survive and
strengthen our businesses.
We are going to choose to be optimistic, if for
no other reason than it is a hell of a lot more fun that way!