There are dozens of readers who never miss an episode of the Wednesday Weblog. Some of them have a subscription, and others review it on LinkedIn or other social media platforms.

Each year I like to select someone who has gone above and beyond as Reader of the Year, and this year it is Angela in Boston. We've known each other for about 16 years, and she is an enthusiastic supporter, great leader and loyal reader, and regularly reposts the Weblogs.

Thanks, Angela.

Every year at this time we get a brand spanking new gift: a 365-day year stretching out in front of us. Every year, most of us are hoping for a brighter upcoming year.

But in the true spirit of cliches that I embrace: "Hope is not a management tool." So, step 1 may be to have hope, but step 2 is to rely on more than hope to make it a good year.

The year can slip away fast and, just like last year at this time, we are mere months away from saying “Can you believe it is May already?” Or “Can you believe it is the 4th of July already?”

Right now, we can’t say any of those things, although we can say “Do you believe it is the new year already?”

If you think of the new year as a stack of 365 Gift Cards each with one day loaded on it in a 'use it or lose it' format, you'd be right on track.

If you don't use the gift of one day that is on a card, you can't get a refund: once the day is gone, it is spent, and you can't get it back.

If we could get refunds on days spent or days wasted or days unused, the line for refunds would be pretty damn long.

A good question to ask today is what will you be saying about your 2025 gift card usage one year from now? It depends on how you spend the gift cards each day, more than your ability or skill or willingness. It doesn’t matter how good you are, if you spend your gift cards and days on the wrong things, you won’t be happy, or successful.

Sometimes it is hard to remember, you have more say and more impact on how YOUR year goes than anyone else. You can overcome poor leadership, adverse weather, strong competition and poor support and yes, even a recession, by spending your time on the right things.

Here's a recipe to make one right thing for you to spend time on in 2025 that only requires four ingredients: you, a plan, a little determination, and 365 days. For those of you who are right brained the formula looks like this:

You + A Plan + A Little Determination + 365 Days = A Right Thing

This simple formula for unwrapping the gift of time can ensure that a year from now, you will be happier with your year in at least one way.

Here’s what some call ‘irrefutable evidence’ of the validity of the formula.

Think back to your personal skill set or habits a year ago. Remember you then? Are you better at anything than you were then? Better at watching Netflix doesn't count.

I am certain you ARE better in at least one attribute today than you were then. It could be your fitness or weight, or it could be you have a puppy to be housetrained, or maybe you even learned something in school. (Learning in school? Rare, I know, but still possible).

What I can also guess about that one thing you are better at today is that you didn’t plan on being better at that specific thing today, it…just…happened.

Imagine how good you would be if that improvement was planned, instead of accidental or organic?

Your one right thing in 2025 could be learning more about social media, or scrambling eggs, or doing the dishes, or being on time (you know who you are) or public speaking or returning the shopping cart to the corral instead of leaving it in the parking lot (you also know who you are). It could be mentoring someone or being mentored. It could be using your communication skills to...communicate in more or better ways.

My one right thing from 2024 including promoting my book Observations at the Speed of Life and I expect an audiobook version and a Spanish language version to hit in January, with a new publisher and a new marketing plan.

My 'one thing' for 2025 is under the umbrella of 'visibility.' I'd like to be more places.

To achieve that my strategies include starting a podcast, doing some keynote speaking, and creating and implementing an Online Course TBD.

Stepping out of the box, becoming a Tik Tok dancer made my final four in 2021. In 2022 I worked on being a weightlifter to get ready for the Paris Olympics in 2024. My 'one thing' for 2023 was to learn more about publishing a book. In 2025 my one thing was to be (get ready for it): managing my time better. (Making a strength stronger?) I am actually in the tenth month of using my own customized planner. (Not for sale, yet. Maybe 2026?)

I have also considered taking guitar lessons so I can play at some of the country bars I visit on a regular basis. Only kidding.

You don’t need an army or an expert or a coach or a mentor to get better, although they all are helpful. You just need you, a plan, a sprinkling of determination and a stack of 365 days of gift cards.

Since you already have you, and the 365 days of gift cards ready to go, it looks like a little plan and a little determination are all that’s needed, and you are on your way to being significantly better at that one thing a year from now.

Gotta go, I think I left a shopping cart in a parking lot, and I have to get ready to unwrap the first gift card of 2025, because if I don't, there's no refund.

In 1951 the woman who raised my mom, we called her Auntie, knit this stocking for me, when I was called Jimmy, for Christmas. It has been continuously used since then. Auntie also knitted a stocking for each one of my seven brothers and sisters, all with their names, and they are all still in use. Auntie has been gone for many years, but her love is still around. The photo on the right is my late mother's mantel with all the stockings in 2021.