The 7 question personal annual review

The end of the calendar year presents us with a valuable opportunity to reflect on the year that was and plan for the year that will be.

It's easy to glaze over the former and focus on the latter, but failure to reflect will eventually manifest as a failure to grow.

“We do not learn from experience...we learn from reflecting on experience.”
― John Dewey

I started conducting a Personal Annual Review 3 years ago as I was trying to be a better human/business owner. And it has been an immensely helpful exercise to which I would credit many of my greatest areas of growth.

Below I share the template for my (shortened) Personal Annual Review. I hope that it will spark you to conduct your own before year-end, as I'm highly confident you will gain the same value that I have from the exercise.

Here are the 7 simple questions that may change your life...

1. What did I change my mind on this year?

2. What created energy this year?

3. What drained energy this year?

4. Who were the boat anchors in my life?

5. What did I not do because of fear?

6. What were my greatest hits and worst misses?

7. What did I learn this year?

   
   Question 1: What did I change my mind on this year?

   I used to assume that the most successful people had all the answers—that they just knew more than the rest of us.

   But as I spent more time reading their books and listening to their podcasts, I came to realize that this simply wasn’t the case.

   The most successful people don't have the best answers—they ask the best questions. They realize that finding the truth is much more important than being right.

   In fact, they legitimately enjoy being wrong. They embrace new information as “software updates" to their brain.

   The Personal Annual Review starts here:

   What did I change my mind on? What "software updates" did I have this year?

   If you can't think of anything, that's a bad thing.

   Question 2: What created energy this year?

   Question 2 asks you to examine this on a macro annual scale:

   • Review your calendars from the year.

   • What activities, people, or projects consistently CREATED energy in my life?

   • Write them down.

   • Did I spend ample time on the Energy Creators or did they get neglected?

   Goal: Spend more time on these in 2024!

   
   Question 3: What drained energy this year?

   Question 3 asks you to continue your macro scale calendar examination, but with a focus on the negatives:

   • Review your calendars from the year.

   • What activities, people, or projects consistently DRAINED energy from my life?

   • Write them down.

   • Did I allow the Energy Drainers to persist or did I cut them in real time?

   Goal: Spend less time on these in 2024.

   
   Question 4: Who were my boat anchors in my life?

   Boat anchors are people that hold you back from your potential. You're trying to push, full speed ahead, but they literally create a "drag" on your life.

   Boat anchors are people who will:

   • Belittle, put down, or diminish your accomplishments.

   • Laugh at your ambition and tell you to be more realistic.

   • Harm the quality of your environment through negativity and pessimism.

   • Make you feel bad by consistently showing off all they have (to remind you that you don't have it).

   Question 4 asks you to identify who they are.

   Goal: Minimize or eliminate the energy you give them in 2024.
   

   Question 5: What did I not do because of fear?

   “We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” — Seneca

   We have to get closer to our fears in order to fight back against them.

   Fear distorts reality—Question 5 forces you to confront and reflect on it.

   Deconstruct the fears that held you back:

   • What was the downside if you had taken action?

   • What was the upside if you had taken action?

   Goal: Get closer to your fears in 2024.
   

   Question 6: What were my greatest hits and worst misses this year?

   Your natural bias skews how you see your year:

   • The optimist sees all hits.

   • The pessimist sees all misses.

   The objective with Question 6 is to take a balanced view.

   Write them all down.

   Reflect on why the hits hit and the misses missed.
   

   Question 7: What did I learn this year?

   “When you stop learning you start dying." — Albert Einstein

   The Personal Annual Review ends here.

   It's easy to lose sight of growth in the trenches—zoom out to reclaim perspective.

   Take your time on this one. Reflect on the other questions from the exercise.

   Don’t forget to have fun with it!

   And if you are game, I would love for you to share some of your answers with me simply by replying to this email!

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