Good morning,

And happy 2025…

Hope your New Year is off to a great start!

When the calendar rolls over from December to January, it’s a good time for reflection on the year that was as well as an opportunity to look ahead to the year that will be.

But a word of caution…

At this time of year - perhaps more than any other - beware of the risks associated with “time travel.”

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That's why they call it the present.”

Whether reflecting on the last 12 months or the last 12 years, don’t get stuck living in the past.

It can stall or completely stop your ability to engage with and participate in the here and now.

Whether you’re reliving the glory days or beating yourself up about something you feel you should have done differently last week, acknowledge it and move on.

What’s done is done.

"The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post."

And if you’re looking ahead to the weeks and months ahead, don’t get stuck living in the future…

In your head, this might sound something like, “If only XXXXX, then YYYYY…”

Or “When I do/get/achieve XXXXX, then I’ll be/feel/think YYYYY…”

I’ve written about this before.

I know a woman who has potentially paid for one of the most expensive “lottery tickets” in the world.

While she doesn’t literally buy lottery tickets, she’s convinced that “any day now” she’ll have a multi-million dollar windfall.

She’s been saying this for years.

Her life is on hold waiting on an imaginary, hoped-for future.

Her health and her finances are suffering right now because “it will all be taken care of” once she has millions in the bank.

"Always remember that the future comes one day at a time."

Having gotten the cautionary tales out of the way, I’m not advising against reflection or planning head.

Not at all.

Planning ahead is what I work on every day with my clients…

If you’d like to do some of your own New Year’s reflection and planning, here are a couple of resources you might find helpful:

• YearCompass - “New year's resolutions don't work. YearCompass does—
  for more than a million people around the world since 2012.”
  • For an online version with AI analysis, check this out
• So You Say You Want a Resolution? by Josh Spector
• 40 questions to ask yourself every year by Steph Ango
• The “good enough” life choice by Derek Sivers

Check ‘em all out and let me know if one of the above resonates with you or proves especially helpful.

And if you’re ready to tackle planning ahead for your money and your life, let me know if I can help!

A little “time travel” now and then is part of living.

Just be careful not to get stuck in your past or your future at the cost of living and enjoying today…

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