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What did you change your mind on this year?
That’s a provocative question, and thus fittingly leads off the seven-question personal annual review venture capitalist Sahil Bloom has conducted for more than a decade and recommends you embrace at the closing of the year.
“The end of the calendar year presents us with a valuable opportunity to reflect on the year that was and plan for the year that will be,” he writes on his blog, adding a reinforcing quote from philosopher John Dewey: “We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience.”
So, begin:
- What did you change your mind on this year?: Mr. Bloom used to assume that the most successful people had all the answers but learned they don’t. Instead, they ask the best questions and legitimately enjoy being wrong, embracing new information as “software updates” to their brain.
- What created energy this year?: Review your calendar for the year and figure out what activities, people or projects consistently created energy in your life. Spend more time on those in 2025.
- What drained energy this year?: Similarly, determine the energy drainers. Did you allow them to persist or did you cut them off in real time, when they occurred? Next year offers another chance.
- Who were the boat anchors in your life?: He defines boat anchors as people who hold you back from your potential. “You’re trying to push, full speed ahead, but they literally create a ‘drag’ on your life,” he says. They belittle you, laugh at your ambition, show off and poison your environment with their negativity. Identify them and minimize or eliminate the energy you give them in 2025.
- What did I not do because of fear?: Another tough one – hard to admit but worth reflecting on. What were the actual downsides if you had ignored those fears and acted? What would have been the upsides? Fight back on your fears in 2025.
- What were your greatest hits and worst misses this year?: Your natural biases can lead you, if an optimist, to see only the successes for the year or, if a pessimist, to see only the failures. This question encourages a balanced view. “Write them all down. Reflect on why the hits hit and the misses missed,” he advises.
- What did I learn this year?: “When you stop learning you start dying,” Albert Einstein said. Take time on this question, using the answers on the others to gain perspective and reflect on your growth.
Canmore, Alta. consultant Michael Kerr, in his annual review approach, asks you to consider what your top three successes and highlights were from the past year; what were the top three things you are most grateful for; and what top three things you are looking forward to in 2025. That can be done alone or in a group exercise with your teammates or family.
Digging deeper, answer these probes:
- If you could summarize the year in just one word, what word would you use?
- What’s the biggest obstacle you overcame this year?
- What is something you tried or did that scared you at the time?
- What are you most proud of from the last year?
- What new skill did you learn this year?
- What was one thing you learned about yourself this year?
- Who made a real positive difference in your life?
- What surprised you the most this last year?
- Who inspired you the most this past year?
- What was your favourite book, movie or TV show from the past year?
Jan. 1 marks the turning of the calendar year but making it a better year can depend, in part, on reflecting about your life in the previous 12 months.
Quick hits
- What was the biggest surprise of the past year? The biggest risk you took? The wisest decision? Those are some of the questions in the Year Compass, a neat, free downloadable booklet that takes you through the past year, gives you space to list farewell thoughts and moves ahead into plotting 2025.
- Author Patricia Digh says “at the end of each year, I ask myself two questions: 1. What do I want to create in this New Year? And, perhaps even more importantly, 2. What do I want to let go of?”
- Blogger Donald Latumahina says there are two levels in optimizing your life, micro and macro. Here are some macro questions to add to your reflections: Do I know where my life is going? Am I satisfied with my life’s direction? Do I have a sense of purpose in everything I do? Do I have a cause that matters to me and motivates my actions?
Harvey Schachter is a Kingston-based writer specializing in management issues. He, along with Sheelagh Whittaker, former CEO of both EDS Canada and Cancom, are the authors of When Harvey Didn’t Meet Sheelagh: Emails on Leadership.