Stop Waiting. Start Living.

Closing the yard and stowing the boat are hardworking reminders that 2025 is coming to a close. They prompted a quiet accounting of my own goals, not the checklist kind, but the soul kind. What had I set out to accomplish, and where was I now? How had I moved the needle on my life?

As an undergrad at UB, I took a philosophy course that introduced a simple but profound idea: the way to build a truly rich life is to do one significant thing every year—the next audacious thing that calls you, that elevates you, tests you, and redirects your trajectory. I took that idea to heart, and, as Frost would say, “that has made all the difference.”

Over time, it became a practice. A way to live intentionally, to make each year count. Aristotle called the good life eudaimonia, the practice of thriving by fulfilling your purpose. His point was simple and timeless: we don’t conjure up a remarkable life by daydreaming about one; we live them by stepping into the arena. Again. And again. Until showing up becomes a way of life.

Why It Matters

When you chase one bold goal a year, the calendar stops being a schedule and starts to keep account of the days that mattered. Working toward something meaningful changes the texture of time.

Before a pursuit begins, days blur together. Once it’s underway, each one gains rhythm and shape—some for rest, some for grind, some for breakthrough. In time, those days accumulate into proof of your commitment to growth and self-fulfillment. And when you look back, the years when you worked for something big stand apart. They mark turning points, evidence that you honored your potential, invested in the life you want, and refused to coast through the one you have.

“Most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a day and underestimate what they can accomplish in a year.” — Tony Robbins

How It Works

Write the book. Run the race. Launch the business. Get sober. Learn the craft.

Whatever it is, commit to it so fully that your habits begin to rearrange themselves around it, because they will.

And here’s the magic: when you give one pursuit your full focus, you stop living reactively. You move from busy to mastery. You start becoming someone who makes things happen, not someday, but now.

Don’t Wait for January

There are two months left in this year. Don’t you dare waste them “getting ready.” January is a delay tactic, a socially sanctioned permission slip to procrastinate. Again.

Waiting is a habit. Starting is too.

You are only serious when you start. Start moving. Start scrappy. Start before you know how.

Because a year from now, you’ll either be among the few telling the story of what you built, or you’ll still be preparing, which is just a gracious way of saying you’ll still be talking.

The calendar is your invitation. And it’s counting down right now.