Ok, it's December 8 and people are already preparing for 2015. They're getting a running start on the new year. How about you?

Here's part of an email I got a few days ago, one that made my morning glow more than it was already glowing. A highly successful individual in financial services wrote to me:

I’m currently rolling up my sleeves and working on my 2015 Business Plan and always reread “The Art of Achievement” at the end of the year to help me solidify my thinking and my plan. I would like to order the DVD. Thanks for the instructions.

Wow. A book of mine that was published more than a decade ago, The Art of Achievement, this correspondent reads every year before completing a new business plan for the coming twelve months. That's very gratifying.

Now, you may be asking yourself, "Why would anyone read a particular book every year?" Steve Jobs did. So do many others. The great scholar and popular Christian writer, C.S. Lewis, once said that a book that isn't worth reading twice wasn't worth reading once. But why The Art of Achievement? It's all about new adventures. It's about making the most of our inner resources as we set outer goals. It's based on the wisdom of the great thinkers about the sort of success that we really want in our lives. It arose from a lot of work, over many years, and I'm so glad it's doing good in people's lives.

So, if you want some wisdom for the coming year, think about joining my correspondent, and consult the great philosophers of the past on what it will take to make this new year count. It doesn't have to be through one of my books. Go snag The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, or the essays of Seneca, or The Portable Emerson. Or if you do want my own guided tour through many of them, go look at the ebook, The 7 Cs of Success, which will take you through the greatest who pondered success. The best practical philosophers of the past knew what you and I will need to make the future count.