Initial goals: link to your current year goals from [[Yearly goal template]] Goal: Close this year/month with beauty and start the next one with purpose.
Allocated [[Deep work]] date(s) to execute this retrospective (>4 hours eventually over multiple days): Deadline for when you’ll stop this process and share an artifact from it: Bold three of the prompts that resonate with you from each section. Share or publish an artifact from this process with at least one person:
Bring the year to mind. Create memory artifacts that remind you of what happened in the last 12 months.
- What music did you listen to this year? last.fm
- What photos did you take? https://photos.google.com
- What books did you read? https://www.goodreads.com
- What courses did you take? https://brilliant.org
- What were your favourite articles, tweets or threads? https://readwise.io/tags/favorite
- What were your favourite memories?
- Who did you make friends with?
- Use [[Month of the year retrospective template]] in a new note - link it here
In this step we’ll go a bit deeper. Start synthesizing insights and connections by contemplating the events you brought to mind in Step 1.
- Review your goals for the year (if you have them) and write a 1 sentence summary for the status each.
- What decisions are you most proud of this year? What decisions are you least proud of?
- What kind of media did you wish you consumed less of?
- What kind of media do you wish you consumed more of?
- What were your biggest disappointments of the year?
- What were your top 3 wins this year?
- Who influenced your life the most (positive or negative)?
- In what areas do you need to forgive yourself?
- Who did you kinda neglect this year? (e.g. my mom)
- What are you most ashamed of from this year?
- What made you cry this year?
- What are some events from the year that you might need to process in the future? List them down.
- What were your biggest risks from this year?
- What beliefs guided your behavior the most this year?
- Give yourself a 1/10 rating for how satisfied you are with [[Life areas template]]
- What areas of your life did you neglect the most this year?
- What happened this year that you definitely don’t want to happen next year?
- Feel free to prompt an LLM with these questions to add a little bit more entropy
Identify emotionally juicy experiences, events and patterns from the year. Practice letting go of them.
- Write down everything you want to let go of on a piece of paper and light it on fire, ceremonially.
- Write down what you’re most ashamed of from the year on a piece of paper and light it on fire, ceremonially.
- Text a loving message to 3 people who A) are important to you and B) you feel any desire to make amends to.
- Send a gratitude text to 3 people who you have quiet, under-expressed appreciation for. Let them know they matter to you.
- Listen to a sad song while reviewing the things that made you cry this year.
Pause. Take a break. Do something completely different for at least 30mins or at most a whole day. Come back to Step 4 with a fresh mind.
Based on your insights and reflections, articulate meaningful intentions for your future.
- What advice would you give yourself for the next year?
- What’s one habit of yours you would instantly “delete” if you could?
- Make a [[Yearly goal template|commitment]] based on the insights above.
- What Projects would you like to start? List their ideal outcomes and next actions.
- What habits would you like to install in the coming year?
- What word would you like to guide you throughout the coming year? Tweet it.
- What affirmations would you like to keep in mind throughout the coming year?
- It’s rare that you will make major progress in several categories at the same time. Major progress in any category requires significant attention. What are 1-3 areas of your life that you want to focus most on in 2022?
- Who would you like to keep you accountable in 2022? Text them with a request.
- What do you want to happen next year in each of [[My life areas 2023]] of your life?