By Matt Doan · Dec 20, 2025 · 3-min read

2025: A Year of Reinvention

Hey Reader,

I wanted to share something more personal with you today — an open and honest look at my past year.

I’m 41 years old, and I’m coming up on four years since I left my management consulting career at BCG — four years since I walked away from the stability, prestige, and predictability of that life to build something of my own.

That decision didn’t just change my work.

It reshaped my marriage, my family rhythms, my sense of time, my nervous system — everything.

2025, more than any year so far, has made it impossible to separate “personal” from “professional.” It’s been one blended life. Sometimes beautiful. Sometimes exhausting. Often clarifying in ways I didn’t expect.

So I wanted to share what this year has actually felt like — where I am, what I’m working toward, what’s been hard, and where I feel pulled next.

​

​

Health: proud of my new normal

I’ll start here, because this is the foundation that keeps everything else standing.

I’m not claiming some optimized, flawless routine. I still drift. I still struggle. But overall, I’m in the best place I’ve ever been mentally, emotionally, and physically — and that’s made 2025 a productive year even when it’s been uncomfortable.

I eat clean, whole foods 99% of the time (but still indulge in pizza when in Italy). I lift 4–5 days a week. Sauna. Full-body strength work. Long ruck walks (game-changer). Ten thousand steps a day is my target — not because it’s trendy, but because it keeps my energy right.

Mornings matter a lot to me now. Breathwork, journaling, reading, writing — they reset my nervous system and my optimism before the day starts pulling at me.

And yes… great organic coffee is non-negotiable. It’s everything :)

I haven’t watched the news in 7 years. I barely know what's going on in the world, by design. I’m careful with inputs, as they determine my outputs.

Sure, I still get distracted — I’m human — but these rhythms have become essential in my growth.

​

​

Family, travel, and time moving faster than I want

Cecilia and I have four kids. We’re a blended family.

Three are from my previous marriage — a 17-year-old daughter, a 15-year-old daughter, and a 13-year-old son. Together, Cecilia and I have a 4-year-old son.

It’s not a perfect system, but it’s a loving one. The kids get along better than I ever expected. Our youngest really is the glue, and watching those relationships form has been one of the quiet gifts of my life.

There’s also a harder truth I still carry.

My older kids aren’t always here. They live about 20 minutes away, but I only have them every other weekend and school breaks. That’s been the reality for over a decade, and I still wrestle with it.

So when I do have them, I want to be deeply present.

Sometimes I am — laughing, dancing, connecting, soaking in moments that feel full and right.

And sometimes I’m not.

Founder life is hard to turn off. I catch myself thinking about the business, a client, a decision, something tactical — even when I’m sitting right there with them. And I feel that internal nudge: come back, you’re here.

I’m not aiming for perfection. I’m working toward faster return to presence.

Travel amplified this awareness this year. We used to talk about traveling the world “someday.” In 2025, we actually did it — masterminds in Florida and Colorado. Family trips to Cancun, Croatia, Budapest, Amsterdam, and the Outer Banks. Retreats we hosted for our clients. Incredible experiences.

And also a reminder that novelty slows time, while routine speeds it up.

My 17-year-old, who is applying to college, has made that impossible to ignore. She’s aiming for the Naval Academy. She’s a travel rugby player, recruited, offers coming in. I’m unbelievably proud — and very aware that these chapters are finite.

​

​

Marriage: growth, friction, and building together

Cecilia and I are in year two of building the business together, and we’re finally finding our groove.

That doesn’t mean it’s friction-free.

We’re both strong-minded people. We clash sometimes. Communication breaks down. Stress shows up. We have to slow things down, repair, and get better — not just as life partners, but as co-builders.

Cecilia has made an extraordinary difference with our clients. She really is the heart of the business — as lead mindset coach, as a steady presence, as someone who deeply cares about outcomes. I’m incredibly proud of her.

Building together has strengthened our marriage in many ways, even as it’s forced us to grow faster than we expected.

That same lesson shows up in leadership with my small (but mighty) team. I’m learning that as the founder, I care more than anyone else ever will — and that’s normal. My job isn’t to carry everything forever. It’s to help others grow into ownership so the work becomes mutually incentivized, not founder-dependent.

​

​

Momentum, disruption, and the mirror

2024 was the most money I had ever made in my life.

There was momentum everywhere. Things were clicking. It felt like we’d broken through.

I walked into 2025 assuming that trajectory would just continue.

Instead, the early part of the year hit hard.

Not just financially — though there was slowdown — but emotionally and structurally. AI disrupted everything. Noise exploded. AI slop made it harder to connect with the people I’m meant to serve. What used to work suddenly didn’t work the same way. The world changed underneath us.

That forced some very honest conversations in the mirror.

I had to ask what needed to change — not externally, but internally. And I realized I needed a new environment.

​

​

New rooms, pressure, and beginner’s mind

So I did what I’ve learned to do when I’m serious.

I changed my environment.

For me, that means new mentors and peers. I joined an amazing new coaching program that makes me honored to be in the room. I’m building relationships with people who make millions per month and feel absolutely on fire about their impact and life. Yep, exactly where I need to be.

This involved putting many tens of thousands of dollars back into myself… again. A deferral on that bathroom remodeling… again (sorry, Cecilia).

Not for credentials. But for healthy, activating pressure.

I had isolated myself for a stretch. Thinking alone — trying to “integrate” all I’d learned. But I found myself carrying too much in my head. That pattern wasn’t healthy, and it wasn’t helping the business.

This new environment has pushed me in ways I didn’t expect. In many ways, I feel like a beginner again — and that’s exactly what I know I need.

A continual beginner’s mind.

​

​

AI: powerful tool, dangerous default

Stating the obvious, but AI has been the most significant force in 2025.

Externally, it’s reshaped the world of work — entry-level roles disappearing, senior ranks thinning, one-person companies doing the work of dozens, content everywhere, signal harder to find.

Internally, it’s forced me to be very intentional.

I use AI every day. It helps me move faster and prototype ideas.

And at the same time, I’m choosing to live more analog by default.

Pen and paper.
Whiteboards.
Sketching on my iPad.

Letting my brain — the most powerful supercomputer I own — actually do its job. Leaning even harder into my heart and intuition.

The danger isn’t AI itself. It’s outsourcing too much of your thinking, synthesis, and meaning-making.

Information is now a commodity: 100% free. The rarity we crave is empathetic, emotionally tuned transformation. That’s what I’m hellbent on delivering to the world. Real "human" work — timeless stuff.

Note to self: AI is a tool. Don’t let it become a crutch.

​

​

Founder: not just a business, but a life

Somewhere in all of this, a word finally clicked for me:

Founder.

Not as a title. As an identity.

I hadn’t fully tried the word on before, but in 2025, “founder” brought clarity to everything I’d been feeling for years — ownership, alignment, responsibility, creation. Not just founding a business, but founding an entire life.

Founder means packaging lived experience into your own intellectual property. Something that scales without you. Something that becomes a real asset — not one you bought, but one you built.

That clarity has become my mission.

​

​

My struggles: loneliness, friendship, and my kids

Before I talk about where I’m going, I want to name what’s still hard.

This path can be lonely.

99% of the people from my old life — colleagues, people I grew up with — simply don’t fit anymore. Not because anything went wrong, but because we’re not walking the same path.

At this stage of life, the time I have is precious. And I want to spend it connecting deeply, meaningfully — not catching up on surface-level things.

My peers are the people walking a similar journey. I’ve tried to nurture some of those friendships. A couple have come through. Most haven’t. That’s been frustrating. And lonely.

I genuinely wish I had more close friends. I want that. I may need to bring more newness into my life in the year ahead and intentionally create space for that.

There’s another layer that weighs on me, too.

A primary reason I made this move — from corporate to founder — was for my kids. I wanted them to see a life built on ownership, courage, and self-trust.

And sometimes I worry they don’t fully see it.

I worry they don’t quite understand why I made these choices. Maybe I need to be more explicit — to explain it, to shine a light on it, to invite them to draw inspiration from it.

Because they’re almost off on their own, and that hurts to think about.

​

​

Vision: where I’m being pulled next

I’ve always had massive ambition, which I see as a powerful feature.

So when I close my eyes and look toward 2026, the vision is big — and it’s not just about business.

I see helping my daughter step into college in a powerful, grounded way. Not rushed. Not anxious. But confident in who she is and what she’s capable of. I see more travel that gets into our bones, not just our calendars. More laughter. More joy. More moments where time slows down because we’re actually inside our lives instead of racing through them.

And alongside that deeply personal vision, I feel something larger pulling at me.

Right now, the work exists in two layers.

The seed business is where everything is tested and proven. It’s where I work closely with people — directly, deeply, sometimes one-on-one — building new frameworks, pressure-testing ideas, validating outcomes in real lives. This is where the substance is created. This is where you find out what actually works when real humans try to change real lives. It's where you validate how to get outcomes that people need.

The scale business grows out of that seed.

Because once something works at the human level, it deserves to exist beyond proximity. It shouldn’t be trapped in small rooms or dependent on my calendar. That’s where software, systems, and partnerships come in. That’s where this work moves into organizations. That’s where Corporate Graduation™ stops being something people discover and becomes something institutions adopt.

We’re preparing for that now.

And I feel called to help far more than a few hundred people. I feel called to help millions rethink their relationship with work — to give them a real graduation path out of corporate life and into founder-level ownership.

In many ways, it feels like a responsibility. A moral duty.

Essentially, to help rescue Corporate America — not by tearing it down, but by offering a better transition. A clearer bridge. A more humane way forward.

I also see a powerful YouTube presence built on long-form thinking, teaching, and storytelling — not hacks or hype, but clarity.

I see speaking on bigger stages and podcasts, reaching people who don’t yet know there’s another way.

I see writing books that articulate this shift calmly and intelligently, for people who feel the pull but don’t yet have the language for it.

And underneath all of that, the structure stays intact.

The seed business continues to be the place where ideas are born, tested, and refined with real humans. It’s where I get deep satisfaction and fuel as the founder — because we are literally saving lives.

The scale business expands those ideas into software, systems, organizations, and institutions that can carry this work far beyond me. That's the job of a founder.

I don’t see hustle. I don’t see noise. I don’t see chasing fads or timely relevance.

I see impact. I see leverage. I see long-term change — for families, for leaders, and for the future of work itself.

And when I think about the people we serve — watching them reclaim their time, restore their health, repair relationships, publish books, launch podcasts, gain visibility, and lead inside some of the most consequential companies on earth with a completely different posture — I feel deeply grateful.

Watching clients experience Corporate Graduation™ from the front row is one of the most rewarding experiences I could ever imagine.

This is the work.

This is the direction.

And this is the life I’m choosing to found.

​

​

Closing

I’m still in the messy middle. Not sure I'll ever feel beyond it.

But I’m grateful.

The highs and lows create contrast. The contrast brings focus. And focus brings gratitude for the life I get to live — even when it’s hard.

If any of this resonated, please reply. I hope this helps, and I deeply appreciate you.

To a remarkable 2026,
Matt

See how deep the rabbit hole goes:

✨ Here's what's possible by the end of 2026. I hope it inspires you.

🎧 Dive into our podcast for bold strategies on Corporate Graduation™ and how to build your next chapter (see my 2025 reflection episode).

👀 Scan the LinkedIn feed. Get inspired.

​