The truth is that I am not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. Most of them go by way of the dinosaurs and no one seems to care whether you keep them or not.

What I do care about is focusing on what matters to you as a person, as a professional and as a lawyer as we turn the page on yet another year. There is a lot to be said about reflection. Although I am not hung up on legacies, I do believe in identifying goals and objectives and making a difference in whatever arena you choose.

If you are having trouble focusing and identifying goals and objectives, let me offer you a role model to help you get there. Read about this woman lawyer, who bucked the odds and proved all the naysayers wrong. Read about her remarkable career and life that ended recently. If it does not inspire you, I do not know what will.

And you don’t have to be a woman lawyer to identify with some of the challenges faced by Eleanor Jackson Piel. Male lawyers today are facing challenges of their own as they find themselves outside the diversity pushes and in the minority of law school entering classes. All has not gone their way, either.

So take a page out of Ms. Piel’s book. At least read a page out of the book of her life and her legal career that lasted into her 90’s. Here’s the link.

Happy reading. And Happy New Year.