Take the First Step Toward New Year Projects

Chances are the holiday trappings have been stowed for another year. Old tannenbaum might just be out by the birdfeeder, giving the birds a bit of cover, and the last of the Christmas candy, picked-over and rejected, has been tossed in the trash. It is time to take a hard look at a new year already underway. Don’t get nervous: This is not about resolutions.

It is, however, a time to consider a calendar so new that it still has all its pages. So many possibilities! If you’re already wishing there were a show to go to, check out our show directory. There are shows in Florida and Arizona in February, and the folks there would be glad to see you. If you live north of the Mason-Dixon, you might just enjoy a change of scenery this time of year.

Or maybe you have a project in the shop that has been languishing for any number of reasons. Things might look different out there early in the year. Maybe this is the time to make a fresh start. Maybe it’s a matter of rounding up parts and pieces; maybe it’s a matter of thinking outside the box to solve a problem that’s created a roadblock. There is, after all, almost always more than one way to skin a cat.

Maybe it’s time to think about what you can do to lend a hand at your tractor or engine club. Could you help out with something new to perk up regular meetings? Could you take on a new or different volunteer role at your club’s show? There’s a lot to be said for experienced volunteers, but it’s also easy to get burned out, doing the same darned thing every year. When you visited other clubs’ shows last year, did you get any ideas about new ways to do old things?

Have you thought about the shows you might attend this year? We all have our favorites but why not try something new? And while you’re there, spend some time looking at something you wouldn’t normally. Every time you look at something in a new way, you find a surprise.

Make a plan; dust off that idea that’s been in the back of your mind. The best way to make things happen is to take the first step. Before you find yourself ripping pages off the calendar with nothing to show for it, grab the bull by the horns. Put this year to work!