6 Effective Questions to Ask for Personal Year-End Review

The end of the year is rapidly approaching, and most of us will soon be taking leave. Soon, you'll be deep into your holiday, taking a break from your typical daily routine to replenish your batteries. After all, it's a well-deserved break, but before you do that, why don't you take a moment to reflect on how the year went for you?

To begin, journal a story about your year. Paint a picture as if you are sharing your story with someone else. While doing this, identify the emotions you felt. Doing this will assist you in answering the following six questions. You can either write your answers on paper or use an audio journal if writing is not your preference.

1. What went well for you?

For this question, you'll want to outline your accomplishments and identify the things that brought you satisfaction. Answering this question helps you identify things you can be grateful for and proud of. These can range from small to big achievements. Also remember to reflect on what went well in alignment with the goals you set to see how well you progressed in attaining them. For example, some of the things that went well for me were creating my website, starting to blog, and launching my Facebook page.

2. What could have worked better?

The aim of this question is not for you to throw a self-pity party or condemn yourself, but rather to acknowledge your failures and bring to the fore those things that you need to put your efforts into to improve. For example, you may have been procrastinating studying for an exam that would put you in a position to be promoted or making excuses to pursue your passion, and now you feel like time is running out. Being brutally honest with yourself will get you to come to the realisation that you need to take action to get things done. Sometimes it may be that you tried something, but it did not turn out to be what you hoped for. When you make this assessment, you may come up with better alternatives to achieve the same goal, or at times, come to realise that a completely new change is required.

3. What lessons did I learn?

A learning mindset is what will put you in a good position to succeed. Believing that everything, either good or bad, happens for a reason helps you not spend too much time crying over spilled milk. This question establishes a positive mindset for everything that comes your way. The challenges and disappointments you may have faced served a purpose. It is upon yourself to discover their intent. By seeking clarity on this, you will be opening yourself up to growth and becoming a better version of yourself. Perhaps you did not progress well in achieving your goals. Identify what those reasons were, what you could have done differently and take full responsibility. For example, my biggest lesson was the importance of doing things as I feel the urge to do them instead of over-analysing and waiting for things to be perfect, and that has brought me so much satisfaction.

4. Where did I spend my time and energy?

Bringing this to the forefront will assist you in determining where you have spent most of your time and effort. Was it on things that matter to you? Was it on what you had planned to do? Were there any time wasters? This will help you identify where you can adjust to carve out time for things that truly matter instead of being driven by random daily demands and distractions that steal your precious resources.

5. Based on the picture I've painted of this year, on a scale of 1 to 10, how pleased am I with how it's turned out?

Measuring your satisfaction with how your year played out helps you reconcile all your reflections for the year and gives you a baseline for how you’ll want to feel at the end of the coming year. When you answer this question, answer it based on how you really feel instead of how you think you should feel and reflect on the contributing factors to your rating.

6. What do I aim to accomplish in the coming year?

Now that you've pondered on the year and how you feel about winding it up the way you are, you can begin planning for the coming year now to avoid regrets and minimise surprises. You may want to consider what you believed could have gone better, the lessons you learned, and how you spent your time and effort this year. Ask yourself what success looks like for you in the coming year, and which areas of your life you want to push yourself to learn and improve in.

It is absolutely up to you how you choose to approach answering these questions. You can do them all at once or two or three at a time, as long as you do them before the holiday spirit takes over. Once all is done, you can be proud of yourself because you've done yourself justice, taken the time to reflect and properly wrapped up your year, and you have a vision for the upcoming year. You may go ahead and happily enjoy your holiday.