A year-end review is the perfect opportunity to celebrate what you accomplished during the year, gain clarity on what you want to accomplish the following year, and reflect on the meaningful and memorable things you experienced along the way. In addition, this process is also the perfect time to look beyond the big goals you set for yourself and examine all the other important experiences and memories you created along the way.
As you pull out your journal to begin your year-end review, here are four things to include:
1. Your Biggest Accomplishments and Challenges
You will go through many challenges and obstacles throughout your life, but you will also experience many amazing moments in the process. This ebb and flow is part of the natural rhythm of life.
When you are doing your year-end review, you’ll want to take a balanced approach when it comes to these cycles. Don’t focus exclusively on the “bad” or unfortunate things you were forced to overcome, or ignore the challenges to focus exclusively on the good. Life is about balance and your combined experiences, both good and bad, teach you a lot about yourself and how resilient you are.
A thorough year-end review can help you learn and grow. It can also help you process what you’ve experienced and acknowledge how far you have come. It allows you to see what goals you achieved and how far you’ve come, even if you didn’t reach every milestone you initially set.
As the year draws to a close, use your journal to write about what you achieved and how those accomplishments made you feel. Then, dig into the challenges you faced and what important lessons they helped you learn.
2. How You Changed This Year
A well-balanced year-end review isn’t just about what you accomplished or what challenges you faced. It is also a great time to reflect on how you personally changed and grew as a result of your experiences, both good and bad. Chances are you are not the same person you were when the year started, so spend a little time reflecting on how you’ve evolved.
Over the course of a year, you are bound to experience many unexpected events, beautiful moments, shared memories, and difficult days. By themselves, none of these experiences define you. They are all valuable because they help you become the person you are and the person you strive to be. Take some time to write in your journal about who you are now compared to who you were at the beginning of the year, highlighting all of the beautiful and profound ways you have changed.
3. Most Memorable and Enjoyable Moments from the Year
During your year-end review, have a little fun by writing about the most memorable and happy moments you experienced over the last 12 months. These are part of your core memories of the year. They are the moments you’d like to keep fresh in your mind. Whether it’s the party you went to on New Year’s Eve, that amazing first date, the snowy Sunday spent in front of a warm fire snuggled up with your pets, or the hilarious movie you watched with your best friend, take a minute and write them all down so you’ll always have them close by.
There’s a good chance your year was made up of many such moments and unique experiences. Some will stay fresh in your mind with very little effort, while others will gradually fade away if you don’t try to preserve them. Your journal is the perfect place to honor and store these memories so you can look back on them and remember where you were at this particular point in your life.
4. How You Want to Do Better Next Year
As you wrap up your year-end review, take some time to look ahead. While it’s great to look back to see how far you’ve come, it is important to keep an eye on the future, as well. Personal growth and development is a never-ending process, so take this opportunity to create a clear picture in your journal of how you plan to approach the gift of another new year.
What do you plan to accomplish? What do you want to see and experience? How would you like your life to be different and better by this time next year? These are just a few of the many great questions you can ask yourself as you look forward to the year ahead.
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