At the end of every year, I conduct a Personal Annual Review.
It's a transformative exercise that everyone should try.
7 simple questions that may change your life:
(bookmark this + download the PDF template)
1. What did I change my mind on this year?
Finding the truth is more important than being right.
In fact, the most successful people legitimately enjoy being wrong. They embrace new information as “software updates" to their brain.
My Personal Annual Review starts here:
What "software updates" did I have this year?
If you can't think of anything, that's a bad thing.
2. What created energy this year?
I have a framework I call the Energy Calendar:
The idea is that you reflect on your calendar from a day or week and color code the events according to whether they created energy (green), drained energy (red), or were neutral (yellow).
The Energy Calendar is a great, visual way to course correct on a weekly/monthly basis if there are specific activities that are highly positive or negative for your energy.
Examine this on a macro annual scale:
Review your calendars from the year. What activities, people, or projects consistently CREATED energy in my life? Write them down.
Did I spend ample time on the Energy Creators or did they get neglected?
Goal: Spend more time on these in 2024!
3. What drained energy this year?
Continue your macro scale calendar examination, but with a focus on the negatives:
Review your calendars from the year. What activities, people, or projects consistently DRAINED energy from my life? Write them down.
Did I allow the Energy Drainers to persist or did I cut them in real time?
Goal: Spend less time on these in 2024.
4. Who were the boat anchors in my life?
Boat anchors are people that hold you back from your potential. They literally create a "drag" on your life.
Boat anchors are people who will:
• Belittle your accomplishments.
• Laugh at your ambition.
• Tell you to be more realistic.
• Harm the quality of your environment.
Identify who they are.
Goal: Minimize or eliminate the energy you give them in 2024.
5. What did I not do because of fear?
“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” - Seneca
We have to get closer to our fears in order to fight back against them.
Fear distorts reality—this forces you to confront and reflect on it.
Deconstruct the fears that held you back:
• What was the downside of taking action?
• What was the upside from taking action?
Goal: Get closer to your fears in 2024.
6. What were my greatest hits and worst misses?
Your natural bias skews how you see your year:
• The optimist sees all hits.
• The pessimist sees all misses.
Take a balanced view. Write them all down.
Reflect on why the hits hit and the misses missed.
7. What did I learn this year?
“When you stop learning you start dying." - Albert Einstein
It's easy to lose sight of growth in the trenches—zoom out to reclaim perspective.
Take your time on this one. Reflect on the other questions from the exercise.
Write down what you've learned.
***
The Personal Annual Review is a life changing exercise.
Experience + Reflection = Growth
Download a beautiful (and free!) Personal Annual Review template to conduct your own here: sahilbloom.com
It's a transformative exercise that everyone should try.
7 simple questions that may change your life:
(bookmark this + download the PDF template)
1. What did I change my mind on this year?
Finding the truth is more important than being right.
In fact, the most successful people legitimately enjoy being wrong. They embrace new information as “software updates" to their brain.
My Personal Annual Review starts here:
What "software updates" did I have this year?
If you can't think of anything, that's a bad thing.
2. What created energy this year?
I have a framework I call the Energy Calendar:
The idea is that you reflect on your calendar from a day or week and color code the events according to whether they created energy (green), drained energy (red), or were neutral (yellow).
The Energy Calendar is a great, visual way to course correct on a weekly/monthly basis if there are specific activities that are highly positive or negative for your energy.
Examine this on a macro annual scale:
Review your calendars from the year. What activities, people, or projects consistently CREATED energy in my life? Write them down.
Did I spend ample time on the Energy Creators or did they get neglected?
Goal: Spend more time on these in 2024!
3. What drained energy this year?
Continue your macro scale calendar examination, but with a focus on the negatives:
Review your calendars from the year. What activities, people, or projects consistently DRAINED energy from my life? Write them down.
Did I allow the Energy Drainers to persist or did I cut them in real time?
Goal: Spend less time on these in 2024.
4. Who were the boat anchors in my life?
Boat anchors are people that hold you back from your potential. They literally create a "drag" on your life.
Boat anchors are people who will:
• Belittle your accomplishments.
• Laugh at your ambition.
• Tell you to be more realistic.
• Harm the quality of your environment.
Identify who they are.
Goal: Minimize or eliminate the energy you give them in 2024.
5. What did I not do because of fear?
“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” - Seneca
We have to get closer to our fears in order to fight back against them.
Fear distorts reality—this forces you to confront and reflect on it.
Deconstruct the fears that held you back:
• What was the downside of taking action?
• What was the upside from taking action?
Goal: Get closer to your fears in 2024.
6. What were my greatest hits and worst misses?
Your natural bias skews how you see your year:
• The optimist sees all hits.
• The pessimist sees all misses.
Take a balanced view. Write them all down.
Reflect on why the hits hit and the misses missed.
7. What did I learn this year?
“When you stop learning you start dying." - Albert Einstein
It's easy to lose sight of growth in the trenches—zoom out to reclaim perspective.
Take your time on this one. Reflect on the other questions from the exercise.
Write down what you've learned.
***
The Personal Annual Review is a life changing exercise.
Experience + Reflection = Growth
Download a beautiful (and free!) Personal Annual Review template to conduct your own here: sahilbloom.com
To get even more out of it, consider conducting the Annual Review in a small group format.
Go through it individually, but then get together with a small group of your intellectual sparring partners and walk through it.
Pressure test, question assumptions, and provide feedback.
Go through it individually, but then get together with a small group of your intellectual sparring partners and walk through it.
Pressure test, question assumptions, and provide feedback.
“We do not learn from experience...we learn from reflecting on experience.” ― John Dewey
A failure to reflect will eventually manifest as a failure to grow.
Experience + Reflection = Growth
A failure to reflect will eventually manifest as a failure to grow.
Experience + Reflection = Growth
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