I have a veritable love-hate relationship with statistics. There are days when I can’t get enough of them. I’ll scour the paper for the latest numbers on the economy, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500. I’m curious about job losses, and interest rates, and new home sales. Graphs and charts are my favorite – I can analyze them for hours trying to understand the values they represent and relate their relevance to my own business. This is important information, after all, for anyone trying to navigate the economic crisis and understand how their organization may be affected by current market conditions. Then there are days when I feel completely saturated with all the numbers and graphs and reports which in the final analysis don’t do a single thing to increase my market share or generate income. They do manage to keep me fixated on the crisis, however. No matter how many times I remind myself that statistics are just a resource for staying informed, after a while I need to give myself a break from all the negativity. It’s hard to escape it, though. The economic challenges, however real and sustained, are all we talk about. In case you’ve forgotten, you are not a statistic. You are a self-actualizing, self-transcending human being capable of learning and growing and succeeding beyond your wildest dreams despite the worst economic downturn.

Miami certainly isn’t known for cold weather but we certainly had our share this winter. It’s curious to see how Miami’s Hispanic community reacts to the cold. When the temperature starts to drop you can bet where the lines will be. Like the march of the penguins we’re ceremonially called to a specific spot on Calle Ocho for churros and hot chocolate. Talk about creating a brand experience.

I wish you could have witnessed the scene in my house this past Sunday night, January 3rd, the last day of the Christmas vacation – or as my two children complained, the day before they would be forced to go back to school. The kids spent the entire day moping around the house, dragging their feet, dreading the inevitable. They simply did not want to go back to school. I can’t say that I blame them. But they’re just kids, and school is much more dreadful a place to return to after a holiday vacation than is work, right? Wrong. According to a report by Paul Gallagher published in Human Resource Executive Online, “one-third of executives responding to a survey said they dread the prospect of handling the mountain of work that awaits them on their return.”

“Every morning in Africa, an antelope wakes up. It knows that it must outrun the fastest lion, or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows that it must run faster than the slowest antelope, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or the antelope – when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” African Proverb. Five keys to help you start the year running.