How To Close The Year Right
I wrote this blog on my way to a quick New Year’s Eve overnight trip to the Oregon beaches.
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day is not just another day. This is a year-end reflection on growth, discipline, and why December 31, still matters, personally, strategically, and financially.
What I am excited about
I am refreshed from an amazing trip to Cancun, Mexico at the all-inclusive Moon Palace.
https://www.moonpalacecancun.com/ If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend it. They have 2 miles of shore line, 30 pools, and incredible service. Warning: This is the type of resort that may ruin all of your other vacations.
We launched our November 2026, 40 Strategy Growth Workshop™ https://40strategy.com/the-40-strategy-growth-workshop/ and we matched the total value for paid attendees in 2025 on our first day of selling in 2026! We are very excited to get this next one filled up soon!
If you happen to have missed your opportunity because you’re on vacation or thinking, “I can wait,” reach out if you want to make sure you get your seat. This year we added the option for easy monthly payments. We encourage you to sign up. https://40strategy.edgeffect.com/
We are anticipating being oversold for the event. So in some cases, if you can’t make it, we might even be able to buy it from you.
We are working very closely with Trent Gillespie https://www.linkedin.com/in/trentgillespie/, CEO of Stellis AI https://www.stellis.ai/ and one of our most popular speakers from the 2025 event. Our shared goal is to get all of our clients involved in Trent’s AI workshops. We know we want this for ourselves and we know every single one of our clients would benefit in the future. Stay tuned.
The Patriots are competitive again in the NFL and I won my fantasy football league. Fun fact, the Cox boys finished 1-2-3, this year.
We have already booked 2026 strategic facilitations for clients in Seattle, Indiana, North Carolina, and Portland.
I will be returning to Bandon Dunes golf resort this February for the 20th plus time. That place never gets old.
My wife and I are scheduling our 30th anniversary celebration with a trip to Europe.
We discovered a great tax manager for our 40 Accounting™ team and we had excellent candidates, and I’ll share more about that in the future. https://40strategy.com/40-accounting/
I am now wearing the Oura ring, thank you for the gift Tyler. I love it. I am very focused on the stress and restored levels in Q1.
. Speaking of Tyler, we are excited for the 1st of our children to get married this summer. Congratulations again to Tyler and Sarah!
Why New Year’s matters in accounting
In the accounting world, there’s arguably no more important day than December 31st and January 1st. We talked about some of the Targeted Year-End Steps To Cut Taxes Now in our blog early last month: https://40strategy.com/targeted-year-end-steps-to-cut-taxes-now/
This was the day to assure that decisions were made, to assure you have all your deductions and income in the right place. If you’ve done it properly, you’re trying to maximize your cash flow and minimize your taxes.
We had a record year, so we had to do a lot of work. I always love December 31 just to make sure that everything is lining up, according to plan.
We did the same with our tax clients. Our goal is to minimize surprises, as much as possible, throughout the year and through the filing tax season.
This is why I always love the last day of the year, to tidy up last year and start moving forward to the next.
Breaking Bad Habits (and Not Settling)
The year-end was also the last day to have bad habits in 2025. Of course, you could always start making bad habits in 2026, but it is an opportunity to start good ones. I don’t plan to start my new positive habits until January 5, when I return to the office and get back into a normal routine.
Looking Ahead: Keep, Start, Stop
If you haven’t already set your goals, it’s never too late.
As a matter of fact, I’ll be spending part of this weekend, while I have some quiet time away from the family, to finalize 2026 goals.
The one thing I encourage you, regardless of how good, mediocre, or bad last year was, don’t settle.
Or in the famous words of Winston Churchil, “Never surrender.”
We have a tendency to base the next year on what happened the previous year.
I encourage you to break that habit.
Don’t settle. Think Big.
Do a bottom’s up analysis to figure out what it would take to get there.
We talked about this before, what should we keep, start and/or stop.https://40strategy.com/how-to-keep-start-stop-the-best-strategies/
For example, our 40 Strategy Growth Workshop™ is a keep. Register now. https://40strategy.edgeffect.com/
I was excited to read in Trey Taylor‘s blog Plant Your Flag, “I think I took more notes than the people next to me.” Thank you Trey for the shout-out! https://plantyourflag.substack.com/
Happy New Year!
