A number of things have happened this week, which have reminded me how fast time seems to pass by (like I need any reminding of this as a mother). First I woke up one morning and the trees that had all been green the previous day were now displaying their beautiful Fall colour, then my eldest child turned 10 on Wednesday (that’s right a WHOLE decade has passed since our beautiful daughter was welcomed to the world) and finally I realised that the photograph that I had been sending out as my ‘current’ headshot was in fact already three years old!

I do wonder if those of us whose daily work requires us to always be looking ahead to the next week, the next month or even the next year experience an ever ‘faster’ sense of the passing of time? With this way of working it appears that there is a clear and present danger that we don’t take a moment to acknowledge how much time has passed and how much we have achieved in that time – and to celebrate that! There is also a risk that we are not ‘current’ in terms of understanding our market, in terms of our customers’ changing expectations and in terms of the way we are working to increase our visibility and develop our credibility. Remember that teacher who dusted off their teaching resources each new academic year and delivered the same old ‘tried and tested’ lesson they’d delivered a million times before? How valued did that make you feel as a student? How ‘in-touch’ with your life experiences did you consider that teacher to be? See what I mean?

Now I am not in any way suggesting that we should engage in a constant process of ‘up-dating’ ourselves and our businesses but we should recognise how quickly time passes and therefore plan periodic reviews to ensure we’re not ‘old news’! So on that note, I’m off to book a session with a photographer for a new professional head-shot as I really can’t face the look of disappointment on a new client’s face when they realise I’m not that ‘thirty something year old’ anymore that my current photo seems to suggest!

Originally from the UK, Rachel Sumner of Halifax, NS has been an international market analyst, teacher, management professor and is more recently a consultant, published author and a business advisor. She is the co-owner of the newest professional space and community in Halifax called platform (www.platformspace.com) and is exceptional at building sustainable business models whilst being the Mom to three young children and adjusting to life in Canada!