One of the challenges of the English language is that some of the idioms don't work in key circumstances. Take for example the phrase "two-faced" which we use to communicate a sense of deceitfulness. But the Roman god Janus has two faces and he is not at all about being deceitful. Janus, namesake of January of course, looks forward and backward at the same time, but the intent is insight, not trickery.
Any discussion about Janus involves talk about beginnings and endings, a natural thing to consider at the end of one year and the beginning of the next. I prefer to think of Janus as the god who is skilled enough to use his ability to look back to the past and into the future whenever it is useful during the year, and not just at New Year's.
Reflecting on the past and anticipating the future (or better yet, shaping it) is the heart and soul of the first two phases of strategic planning - 1) strategic assessment and 2) strategic options. But the act of looking to the past and to the future is not just for planning. The act is a fundamental practice of the examined life, whether the life we are talking about is institutional, personal, or both.
It is a good thing to pause, to take stock, and to re-envision the future as we approach the New Year. But limiting our embrace of the spirit of Janus to January is a lost opportunity. It may be the single biggest lost opportunity in post-secondary education - letting students pass through the system without them developing the habit of mind for multi-directional reflective thinking beyond New Year's Day.
Sunny