Taking Inventory

We all from time to time feel the need to take inventory of how our life is going. We examine goals to see if they have been achieved, our physical state is accessed to see if it is in need of improvement and we may also take a good hard look at our personality or level of education for areas that are weak. Taking inventory is a common event for most retail businesses. It is a time spent taking stock of the state of the valuable goods sold in the business. Inventory gives a clear picture of where the business stands and what changes need to be made in order to improve the status of the goods or products of the business.

Human beings take inventory at certain times of life including highschool graduation, college graduation, at the time of marriage, before the birth of a first child, at the time our children are preparing to go off to college and then again when we retire. There may be other time in life when it seems a good time to take inventory, but those are the major times when we tend to think that it is a good time to take a good look around and see what things can be improved and what things are going smoothly.

During the time that we are taking inventory, we take note of areas of our life that fall short of earlier expectations, or areas where we have failed to reach goals we have set for ourselves. Taking inventory gives us a starting place for new goals. Most people will either be validated or receive a big shock when things don't come out the way they were expected to. Taking periodic inventories throughout the stages of life can lead to a better understanding of who we are and where we are going so that when we reach those expected milestones in life we can be happy with who we have become.

Have you taken inventory lately?