The way you've been doing things may not be the way you should do things...any more.

People are people. And while people may not fundamentally change, the way they go about things does. Technology, applications, trends, economics, political strife, etc. act as influences that change norms of behavior.

Behavior like applying for college admission.

Colleges across the country are currently dealing with an interesting problem - more students than expected have accepted admission. As this article from SFGate.com states, the problem is costing universities and tax payers millions of dollars.

The problem is that they can no longer rely on historical trends for enrolling students because the whole process has been turned on its head by online application services.

Here's the lesson for us all: we can't rely on what was to predict what is and will be. We have to continuously look around and ahead to best understand why what we have is happening. Said another way, in good times and bad, we have to remain consciously competent in understanding why we're making or loosing money. Otherwise, even a win hits our pocketbooks as a loss.