The template: 15 questions
Give yourself an unhurried hour, something warm to drink, and one rule: curiosity, not judgment.
Look back (with warmth, not judgment)
- What are the wins I'm genuinely proud of — including the small, unglamorous ones?
- What did I do this year that my past self would be amazed by?
- What were the hardest moments, and what did they teach me?
- Who and what gave me energy? What drained it?
Notice the patterns
- What kept showing up — a recurring distraction, or work that consistently lit me up?
- Which goals moved forward, and which never got traction? Why?
- How did I actually spend my time versus how I wanted to?
- What habit helped me most? What habit held me back?
Choose what's next
- What do I want more of next year? What do I want to leave behind?
- If next year had one theme or word, what would it be?
- What are the 2–3 goals that would make next year feel like a success?
- For each goal, what's the real obstacle — and how will I handle it?
- What's the very first step I could take this month?
- What does 'enough' look like, so I can feel satisfied along the way?
- Who do I want to become by this time next year?
Why a yearly reflection is worth the hour
Reflection genuinely changes outcomes — in research, people who paused to reflect on their experience outperformed those who just kept going by 22.8%. A year of ordinary days is hard to feel in the moment, but seen all at once it tells a real story of progress.