The winter can take a toll on our psyches, and many of us simply let dust settle on our goals and dreams. Now, just as your windows, floors, rugs and lampshades at home probably need some cleaning, your career could likely use some spiffing up as well. It was, after all, a hunkering-down and depressing kind of fall and winter for most of us. Try these five handy steps for revitalizing your career this spring:

Shake out the old assumptions in your head. Are your ideas about your industry or functional area still true, or have things shifted in the past six months?

Polish your communication skills. Do you really write and speak as effectively as you need to if you want to pick up the pace of your career this spring?

Replenish your supply of relevant contacts and relationships. Do you have vital connections with people both inside and outside your organization who can be helpful to you in getting things done?

Rearrange your goals. They need to be more compatible with the post-2001 economic outlook. Some plans will need to be adjusted upward (i.e., are you still stuck in the drizzly winter assumptions?). Others might need to be tamped down a bit as you watch to see how the economy's warming-up plays out in your arena.

Replace the burned-out or flickering bulbs in your career lamp. Check to be sure your vision is clear and you have the power you need to light your way.

Whether you're a man or woman, chances are you're not the person charged with doing a really thorough spring cleaning on the home front these days. It will either get done haphazardly by you in stolen moments or by someone else you pay. But only you can spruce up your career.

Neglecting any of these strategies will get you in trouble, not with your neighbors or your mother-in-law, but with the people who'll be deciding how far you'll be moving ahead -- this season, this year and maybe well into the future.

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