Yesterday, I finished up a post on my AlignedLife blog to bring my December trip to Baltimore to a close–it closed the loop on a great trip and even greater conversation. The post highlighted a few post-chat things I wish I had said or expanded upon in the moment. One of these I continue to think about, “the current system isn’t fair and hasn’t been fair.” I often worry that the privileges, both real and assumed, I have been afforded in my life run counter to my belief that everyone has the...

Maybe it’s because the Authentic Life has become so important to me, but I keep seeing “authenticity” everywhere. Yesterday, I saw a leader in the financial planning community encouraging everyone to try to be more authentic in the new year. I also read a post on Substack that claimed authenticity was fake–that it wasn’t possible to be authentic because we wear different masks depending on who we are with and where we are. The author also questioned whether past versions of our Self were more...

It can be scary to bring chapters in our lives to an end. But, in 2026, commit to allowing chapters that need to conclude to do so. You don’t need to start a new chapter today, just because it’s January 1st. Your new chapter may not need to begin until March, July, or even December. The only “when” that matters for your new chapter(s) is when it is right for you. Yesterday, my wife, Ang, announced that a twelve-year chapter of her life would be ending at the end of January. In the fall of...