Another year fixing to finish, with New Year's Day just around the corner on the calendar.

This is a good time for reflection on the past and setting goals in anticipation of the future. I take this time to ask myself what I have and have not done during this past year to affect my life and the lives of people around me, and whether it may have been better to have done some things differently, better, or not at all.

Then, I look into the coming year and set positive goals... some which will be easily achieved, some that will require various levels of effort and commitment to achieve, and some that may not be achieved, yet offer challenges for me to at least try to achieve.

Overall, I've had a very good year. I've helped a few of my Social Security clients get their disability benefits started. I've helped a few people who wanted to stop smoking. I've helped a few others who wanted to lose weight. I've helped some folks do better in school. I've helped some folks improve their relationships. I've married a few people. I've taught some boater safety education courses. And I've helped some folks have more fun by helping them with fishing, boating, and camping needs.

Did I make a million dollars?

Nope. It wasn't one of my goals.

Did I become rich or richer? Yep, sure did. I made a few new friends, helped some folks have better lives, and lived a relatively stress-free life without depending on any happy pills. In my view, that makes me pretty rich.

Were there things I feel I could have done differently... or that I feel I should have done but didn't? Yes, definitely so.

Some of my goals for 2010 include getting 5-10 more social security clients and settling 5 or so disability cases I already have on my books (I usually only take on 5-10 new clients per year so I can concentrate on those client's cases without getting too overburdened). I also hope to help folks out by restructuring my fees for counseling and hypnosis in order to make my services more affordable during these tough economic times.

For my store in my garage, I plan on building an outdoor shed so I can have a place to keep my yard tools and other stuff taking up space in the garage so that I can expand my sales floor some, since I have expanded my line of products now to include boating, ropes, and other products in addition to my bait, fishing, and camping products that I already sell.

I don't have any resolutions, per se, since the idea of new year resolutions has taken on a bit of negativity and I personally don't feel that resolutions carry that element of positive commitment as do goals and plans to achieve those goals.

As you read this, take the time to reflect back on this past year ending, and then work on establishing new goals and plans for accomplishing those goals for 2010.

And then, stay focused.

Wishing ya'll a Happy New Year!

Capt. Leonardo Ortiz (USMM)