What is a Personal Annual Review?
What is a personal end of the year review and why you should have one?
If you are having corporate background and this makes your stomach, feel… funny I apologize, I understand. I promise it does not need to be like THAT.
If you have no clue what the phrase above means , good 😊 curiosity will be an amazing tool for you in this process.
Put simply, a personal end of year review is about you dedicating some time to pause and reflect on the past year.
It usually starts with something as simple as “What happened in January? February? “ and might evolve into more complex and challenging questions like “What made me feel alive?”, “ how often did I laugh free or worry or fear”?
This is for you if at least once in the past weeks you found yourself saying- I have no clue where this(last) year went.
Why should you do this? Because It’s not just a trip down memory lane, that you take alone at home or in a workshop.
During a Yearly Review, you take stock of where you are, how you have changed in the past year, identify the trajectory you’re on and try to figure out: where do you want to go from now.
Plus, it’s an incredibly helpful exercise to make sure that your good resolutions for the new year, in case you have some, this time finally last longer than January 19th.
If you never pause to look at where you are right now and where you are going, then all the improvements that you’re chasing – being more productive, finally getting that promotion, improving your relationships, or simply earning more money – might just lead you to the wrong place, faster.
The most important thing for an Annual Review is time. Focused time. Doing a Yearly Review can take several hours. Of course, you could cut this short and try to squeeze it into 45 minutes. But the whole point of the exercise is to pause and take a moment to examine your life, so it might be worth to spend a few more minutes on it. Aiming for 2-3 hours is a good starting point.
Next up: what tool should you use for your Personal Annual Review? Do you need to use a specific tool? Do you need to attend a workshop on it?
The answer is: no, you don’t absolutely have to, you can do it alone, you can do it at home, and you can use plain paper and a pen.
So why do I still recommend doing it with a tool or withing an organized environment?
You know your life, what happened, what you succeeded to do and what not. Nevertheless, a lot of studies and my own experience proved, things written down are much different than just thinking about it.
Writing them down within a guided organized environment will help clarity and create better visibility. It’s easier to envision a future you want when you know exactly where you are, how you have changed in the past year and where do you want to go from now.
Remember the only thing you can control is the process and your input, not the outcome of life. Your vision is also likely to change as you make progress. Having a good road map of how you want your life to look in a year from now is the best way to close the year passing and start the new year fully empowered to actually live based on the life you deserve and dream about.