New Year, New Goals: Here's How We're Starting 2025 Strong!

Hey, what a week! The week after New Year’s always feels like a whirlwind. It’s a strange but reflective time—very introspective. It’s that moment when you pause to think about the past year: how it went, what you accomplished, what you could have done better, and what you need to improve moving forward. For me, it’s not just about reflecting personally, but also as a business owner. There’s always that need to get everything in order for the year ahead. It’s a lot of planning and preparing, but it’s worth it.

Of course, with the start of the year, there are some tasks you can’t avoid—like getting the books ready for taxes. That part always frustrates me because it feels so arbitrary. I mean, December 31 rolls into January 1, and suddenly we’re in a new tax year. But it is what it is, and I got through it. For me, that’s one of the things I focus on during the last week of December and the first week of January. It’s a chore, but it feels good to check it off the list.

We’re not a big “New Year’s Eve” family. You won’t catch us in crowded nightclubs or at big, wild parties. Over the past few years, we’ve kept it low-key, celebrating at home. This year was a little different, though, as the boys are getting older and starting to create their own traditions. Noah spent New Year’s with his girlfriend and her family up in Pennsylvania. From what I heard, they had a great time together. Sam stayed home but made plans with some of his friends, which was great for him. Even though they were off doing their own thing, we still had some close friends visit us at home. It’s a tradition to hang out together around New Year’s, and I always enjoy that time with them.

One thing we love doing with these friends is making vision boards. It’s something we’ve done for years, and it’s become a fun way to think about the year ahead. We grab old magazines, cut out pictures, and create visual representations of our goals and dreams for the coming year. It’s inspiring to sit down, talk about our hopes, and create something tangible to look back on throughout the year. That said, I’ve noticed it’s getting harder to find good magazines with a lot of great visuals. If you know of any, let me know! You can email me at info@shanesmithlaw.com. But we managed to find enough to make it work this year, and it was as fun and motivating as ever.

Another highlight of New Year’s Eve was attempting the Formula 1 champagne spray. I thought it would be simple, but it turns out there’s a bit of a technique to it. If you’re not careful, the cork just pops, and you end up spilling the champagne instead of getting that spray effect. It was a learning experience, but we had a great time laughing and trying to perfect it.

After all the New Year’s fun, the boys had to head back to school, which is always bittersweet. Sam is halfway through his junior year and did really well last semester. I’m proud of him for that. This semester, though, he’s tackling Spanish, and let’s just say he’s not thrilled about it. I’m hopeful it won’t be too bad for him. Noah, on the other hand, is in his first year of law school. He’s halfway through now, and I couldn’t be prouder. The waiting for grades after finals was stressful, though. In law school, your grade depends almost entirely on your final exam—up to 90% of it! So it’s a lot of pressure. The grades didn’t come out until after New Year’s, and there was definitely some anxiety in our house about what they’d look like. But when they finally posted, Noah did really well. As a dad and a lawyer, I couldn’t have been happier for him.

It’s always a little sad when the boys leave to head back to school. The house gets so quiet without them. Even Sam’s dog, Robin, went back with him. Robin has been my walking buddy for a long time. He’s got this routine where, if I’m running late in the morning, he’ll start pacing until I’m ready to go. He’s always excited to get out the door and start the day. The first morning after he left, it was cold, rainy, and wet, which almost felt like nature was encouraging me to stay in bed. But I still went out for my walk, even if it wasn’t quite the same without him.

Holly and I have been focusing on getting the house back in order now that the holidays are over. We packed up our Christmas decorations earlier than usual this year, which feels nice. It’s like hitting the reset button. Now we’re working on settling back into our normal routines. I’ve also been spending a lot of time thinking about my goals for 2025. One of the mastermind groups I’m in does a big exercise around this every year. We look at where we ended up last year, where we want to go this year, and then break it down into quarterly and monthly targets. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s so helpful to have that clarity and focus.

This week has also been about clearing out all the Christmas sweets and getting back to healthier eating. Thankfully, with two young men in the house, most of the desserts were polished off before they left! We did have Noah’s cat, Ivy, with us for a bit. She’s such a funny little thing—so different from dogs. She loved hanging out with us while we made our vision boards, curling up on the table while we worked. She also spent some time in my office, which was unusual for me. We don’t normally have a cat around, so it was fun to see how different their personalities are. It’s definitely quieter now that she’s gone, too.

So that’s been my week—reflecting, planning, and getting back into the swing of things. I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year’s and has big plans for 2025. Let’s make it a great year. And as always, if you’re in pain, call Shane!