Happy New Year!

I don’t normally make annual resolutions for myself. I suppose that my own poor results some time ago discouraged me from continuing the practice. But as the years go by (a little faster these days it seems ), it does seem that this is indeed a good time to make, or renew, your promises – your commitments – to yourself.

And this being a blog about Excel and Monarch, I wouldn’t blame you for expecting me to lead you directly down the productivity path asking you to excel with Monarch in 2008. Well my friends, that’s not where this is going. At least not entirely. Truthfully, that was the concept when I first was planning this piece. But something else occurred to me along the way.

No, instead my wish is that you and I make the same simple commitment. No matter what you do professionally, be it clerical work, accounting, medicine, education, banking, development, sales, logistics, you name it; we can all have a single common promise to ourselves. And in all likelihood it will not only make you happier in the long term, but it could possibly even (and might not be as big a stretch as it might initially seem) change the world. Seem like a pretty lofty goal? It need not be.

Today Good Isn’t Good Enough

It’s as easy as this: promise yourself that this is the year that you will take every opportunity to be as good at what you do as you possibly can.

Let nothing stop you from being or doing whatever you want. Some things may slow you down. Some things may challenge you to think that you should stop what you’re doing altogether. And you may want to quit something, and that might be the best choice you make, because it will let you direct your energy and effort toward that which will allow you to be the best at something else.

Can you imagine what the collective results would be if everyone was really, really good at what they did? How will you feel knowing that you continue to contribute positively every single day? Would that lead to other positive things in your life?

I recently read Seth Godin’s little book entitled The Dip. It’s a great short book in which he discusses how to recognize and react to the challenges before you, and exactly why you should strive to be the best at what you do.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m likely to make mistakes along the way and it’s also likely that I already have, with this site and many other things. But my commitment for the upcoming year is that I will make ExcelWithMonarch.com as good a place to visit for your Excel and Monarch needs as I possibly can. I’ll do my best to create meaningful, useful content to assist you as much as I can, in the ways that I can, in your achieving your goals, whatever they may be.

And no matter what your goals are, or what your profession is, we all have one other thing in common, and this is where this site has the most potential to help you achieve what you want.

You are a Specialist

Everyone knows the term “Information Age”. This is more meaningful now than ever before. No matter your field, we are all surrounded and inundated with data. Every topic has its own relevant data, and every one of us works with this data day in and day out. Sales analysis. Real estate trends. Stock market forecasting. Medical research. Everything has the potential for massive amounts of data.

That’s where you come in. You’re learning to acquire data. Data becomes information, and information becomes knowledge. And when you’re exceedingly knowledgeable about something, you become a very valuable person. And that’s a very good thing. Because, being more realistic than pessimistic, you never know what’s around the corner.

If your vehicle suffered significant damage in an accident, would you take it to the local mechanic or a collision repair shop to be fixed? If, and we certainly hope this is never the case, you became very ill would you prefer to consult with a general practitioner or a specialist?

There are Two Kinds of People in This World

Now the world needs people with a broad knowledge base too. We need general practitioners, jack-of-all-trades, managers and CEOs. They all understand the big picture. But it’s the specialists that make the really good things happen.

Did the greatest advances come from generalists who stumbled across something? Sometimes, to be sure. But more often than not, the world advanced because someone devoted years of their life to their cause, their inventions or their field. They developed specialized knowledge and did something great with that knowledge.

How many people do you know that have worked at the same company for more than 20 years? 15 years? 10 years? Today’s reality is that people change employers fairly often; be it of their own desire or not.

If you’re an employee, wouldn’t you want to have a distinct advantage over the competition? If you’re an employer, wouldn’t you want to hire staff that have specialized skills?

Now More Than Ever Before

We all need you to be a specialist. We’re counting on you.

In a world that really is data driven, make this the year that you commit to be the best that you can possibly be. To help you accomplish your goals, strengthen your foundations. Choose to learn, use, and then excel with Monarch.

Then use what you get out of it to be really good at what you do. You’ll make the world a better place.