The Annual Review That Shaped My Life
For the past decade, I have taken time every year to do an annual review and set ambitions for the following year. It has guided me through hard times as well as good times, and everything in between. I believe it has been instrumental in navigating my life towards my ambitions and cultivating some of the best years of my life so far.
At the highest level, it starts with three key questions (I took this from James Clear):
What went well?
What didn’t go well?
What am I working toward?
Generally, most annual reviews follow those main questions. You can start with those three questions and get most of the value out of doing an annual review.
Personally, I go into more detail for each question:
What Went Well?
I start by reflecting on what went well the previous year, where I journal in a narrative format on what happened. At the end, I list out achievements and highlights of the previous year.
What Didn’t Go Well
Similar to “What Went Well?”, I journal in a narrative format on what didn’t go well. I also include a section where I outline lessons that I’ve learned from what didn’t go well, and a section on what should change as a result of those lessons learned.
What Am I Working Toward?
This is the fun part, where I outline my ambitions for the year. I start by listing my principles and values — this helps guide what I choose my ambitions to be. For each area of my life (i.e. career, health, relationships, etc.), I write what I want those areas to look like. I call these my big themes for the year.
I then list out my goals for the year. These goals are usually related to one of the big themes that I had defined. At the very end, I write out what I’m currently working on, which are the projects or tasks that move me towards my ambitions.
Food for Thought
Although one year is the most common timeframe for setting goals, it’s often too long to stay focused and motivated. A more effective approach is to break the year into shorter 12-week cycles, each centered on a smaller set of goals. This idea is the core premise of The 12 Week Year. Tim Hill has a good video summary of the book.