Personal Annual Review

How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.

This template can be reused each year, but it is a LIVING document. Add to it. Change the structure. Play with it. The original inspiration behind this template comes from David Perell & Tiago Forte's Annual Review Workshop

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Principles

Keep these principles in mind as you complete your review to ensure that you get the most out of it.

1 - Intuition over Analysis

Not everything can be formalized into an analyzable form (and even if it could, it might take a wicked long time — see principles 2 and 3). A lot of what we know is internalized in "gut feelings" or "intuition". Use this to your advantage! It has developed over your life time. Your intuition can help guide your next year into alignment with who you are and who you want to be.

2 - The 80/20 Rule

Most data in life is power law distributed; this means that a relatively small proportion of factors produce a large proportion of the effect (e.g. 20% of the input produces 80% of the output). Be judicious in the work you do throughout the annual review to make sure you are extracting the most value for yourself. Don't let the review take more from you than you get see principle 4).

3 - Completion over Perfection

Don't let yourself get hung up on making everything perfect. You might see fancy annual reviews that look amazing with photos, videos, etc. Yours does not need to look like that! Especially if you have not set up the right habits to make the creation of such a review easy, you will end up spending a lot more effort than value you get (see principles 2 and 4).

4 - The Annual Review is a Tool

If something in this review does not resonate with you at this point in time, skip it! If you think it needs to be changed, change it! Don't fall into the trap of thinking you need to complete everything in some very structured or specific way. Tools are meant to be used for a purpose — make sure you are accomplishing that goal.

Getting Prepared

Some preparation is in order to ensure the process works for you!

[ ] Goal setting: Decide right now what your intention is for this review (see principle 4)

[ ] Time box: Decide right now how much time you will spend on the review. Adapt the idea of progressive overload here: if you have never done an annual review before, limit to a small amount of time for the review. Using some form of social pressure here (e.g. "I will release my annual review to Twitter, Facebook, or a close friend, etc. by X date" may help you stick to this)

[ ] Commit: Set aside blocks of time to complete this process in 3 sessions (roughly one dedicated to each chunk). You don't necessarily have to schedule the same amount of time for each one. Play with how much you give to each section and customize to your needs for this year.

[ ] Make a note with a brainstorm of ideas for this year — this will be helpful as you go through the process. Make sure it is easily accessible during every stage of the review process so you don't lose a great idea!

0 | Preparation

Take notes with “Ideas for this year” to capture any ideas, projects, or goals that come up during this process, to get them off your mind

What area(s) of your life do you most want to focus on for this review?

Where do you want to gain more clarity, creative inspiration, or freedom?

How do you want to feel at the end of it?

Set a deadline to publish or share your Annual Review

1 | Remember

The purpose of this section is a backwards look at highlights / lowlights of the previous year.

Favorites

What was your favorite music playlist?

Who was your favorite artist?

What was your favorite song?

What was your favorite concert?

What were your favorite photos?

What were your favorite videos?

What was your favorite movie?

What were your favorite articles?

What was your favorite travel?

What was your favorite experience?

What was your favorite speaking, teaching, awards, or recognition?

What were your favorite memories?

What was your favorite restaurant?

What was your favorite meal?

What was your favorite first meeting?

Learning

What books impacted your thinking most?

What did you learn about yourself?

What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned this year?

What was your favorite learning?

People

Who surprised you the most this year?

Who were new friends you enjoyed getting to know better?

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