A new year naturally pulls our attention forward with new plans, new goals, new expectations.
Before moving too quickly, I’ve found it useful to pause on what the last year actually looked like. I spent 182 hours surfing. Not all of them were memorable, but together they added up to a large chunk of time that I was fully present, which is something I don’t take lightly and is hard to come by these days.
I also trained for a Half Ironman. There were months of mostly steady effort that didn’t always feel productive in the moment, but quietly built something durable. The race itself was just one day, but the consistency in the months leading up to it mattered more. I also made it through the year without breaking any bones, a small win, but a reminder that staying healthy is often an underrated form of progress.
More importantly, I spent time with family and the people closest to me, and I got to watch friends move through major life milestones, moments that don’t demand attention, but tend to matter more than you realize at the time.
As the year gets underway, that perspective carries over. Progress doesn’t always come from pushing harder or moving faster. Often, it comes from staying steady, protecting what’s working, giving good decisions time to compound, and not overreacting to short-term noise.
That’s true in life, and it shows up clearly in financial planning as well. Progress rarely comes from doing everything at once. It comes from making good decisions consistently and giving them time to work.
That feels like a solid place to start.
