While planning to write my goals for the new year, I thought I would start with writing a personal annual review and 3600 words later, it was the best thing I could do.
Â
It was a cathartic experience where I dwelled on the past year on 5 aspects:
- Work
- Health
- Relationships
- Learning
- Fun
Â
In each of these aspects I picked up defining focus areas and people and wrote free form - recollecting the highlights, the mistakes, and the learnings along the way.
Â
Work.
Â
All the roles that you've played in the year, what have you succeeded in, what key lessons you've learnt, and what needs improving.
Â
Health.
Â
I divided this into 2 aspects - Physical and Mental Health - and then focussed on what habits, routines have contributed to improving them and what can I still improve on.
Â
Relationships.
Reflecting on relationships is something we don’t do often enough. From family to friend groups across school, college, work.
I dug deep into how the relationships have evolved over the year. What conflicts happened and how I have resolved them.
Â
Learning.
Â
I focussed on different modes of learning that I depended on. Reading (Books and articles), watching (YouTube), listening (Podcasts). And comparing it to the previous year and reinforcing the positive things I've done in the year.
Â
Fun.
Â
Fun included how travel, sports, hobbies, games, music, movies helped enrich my life. And what do I need more of in the new year.
Â
What all this ended up doing was that it bookended the year - leaving me with a fresh plate to work on for the new year with no lingering thoughts and regrets of what I should or shouldn’t have done.
Â
Related Posts
Â
If you liked this post, subscribe to my newsletter: