"Annual reviews" are utter bullshit
The end of every year is a magical (and/or a weird) time. After the mad dash of wrapping up work, shopping, cleaning, preparing, then gorging on food, and passing out... we finally get to slow down. During that time of the year - we’re often surrounded by the people who helped (or hindered!) us along the way. Family, friends, spouses. Sometimes that can be triggering. But it can also surface new insights about old patterns and force us to reflect.
Personally, I aim to reflect more than get triggered. So sometime between Dec 25 and Jan 1 - I take the time to fully take in the year past and dream of the year ahead. I’ve done this for 7 years running. And yeah, some vintages are better than others.
It helps me appreciate the good moments and learn from the hard ones. It helps me understand how I spent my time and puts me in touch with my values. Finally, it helps me to see patterns and themes emerge at a macro level of my life.
This is not an "annual review", not a "year plan", and most definitely not "goal setting" or "new year's resolutions". I deeply hate all of those terms and the concepts behind them. Anything that's too regimented is bound to fail. Come February, most of the goals, resolutions and even those 360 reviews are long forgotten.
My approach - inspired by kids obviously - is a "Trip Around The Sun". It's about reflecting and capturing the trip last year. And it's about dreaming and anchoring for my trip in the year ahead.
Forget goals and timelines and milestones. Instead, think in: intentions, themes, flavors, seasons, and emotional color. Those are more valuable ways of assessing how a year went or how it felt. Also, there’s nothing more dispiriting than to be going over a list of all the goals you set only to realize that those were completely missed, unrealistic, or entirely not what you actually wanted out of life. So forget all that.
Instead… Carve out 2 hours of idle time. Grab a cozy beverage. Put on some good tunes. Feel free to smudge the shit out of your apartment. Or maybe just light a candle.
You can choose to capture this moment of reflection in a few ways.
On your laptop - open up the file in Adobe Acrobat (or equivalent) and plug your answers into the PDF.
On print outs - print this file and then write directly on each page.
In a notebook or blank pages - capture answers to your prompts in any way that works best for you.
There are five pages in this “trip manual” with a bunch of different prompts across two primary modes - looking back and looking forward. Don't overthink anything. Go with the flow. Don't feel precious. Tune into your gut. Let it rip.
Looking Back
Start by looking through your photos, calendars, social media posts, and texts across 2022. Capture key moments for each month and articulate key themes that emerge.
Then reflect on what fueled and drained you in 2022. Let things organically emerge. Don't overthink. Choose the prompts that resonate. Ignore the ones that don't.
Next - look at your “pizza of life” - and score how you did on every pizza slice from 1 to 10, across 2022. 1 means "it sucked". 10 means "crushed it". Reflect on which pizza slices surprised you or made you pause, and why. To transition into “looking forward” score every pizza slice with a number where you want to take/maintain it (or drop it!) in 2023. Again use 1 to 10 scoring.
Looking Forward
Start by bringing to life the most important things about how you want to live your life whether it's 2023 or 2053. These are your anchors for this year and possibly many years to come. The anchors may change over time and that’s OK, but their quality tends to be durable, because they typically stem from your personal values.
Finally - write a letter to yourself, a year from now. Then "schedule send it" in your email app, for the end of Q1 2023. When that email arrives, snooze it for the end of Q2 2023. Repeat again for the end of Q3 2023. You get the gist. Goes without saying probably, but… Re-read the letter every time and reflect on where you are in your “trip around the sun”.
And that’s it. A trip around the sun. Captured in whatever format suits you best. It’s super fun, doesn’t take as long as it may seem, and produces a level of insight about yourself, unlike any other mode of self-reflection. Try it and let me know how it went. And if you liked it - forward it to your besties, your co-workers, your Mom and Pop. Everyone needs a little moment of appreciation for their own “trip around the sun”.