Why You Need a Personal End-Of-Year Review

Get to know yourself and continue working on issues that matter.

Reflecting on the past at the end of the year can be a compelling and exciting journey. It’s symbolic to do this kind of review at the end of a year. It will allow you to grow up in the upcoming years, but what’s more interesting is that you will get closer to learning about the real you. It’s similar to what all companies do, so let’s see how to do an annual evaluation the right way.

The first thing to do is let go of expectations and don’t try to compare yourself with others, at least while you are doing your review. Start with various areas of your life, from health, to love life and finances. Write down the upsides and downsides, events which made you feel good and the ones which triggered negative emotions.  

Your mind will tend to gravitate towards negative experiences and feelings, which is part of our nature. We all suffer losses during those 365 days; we have bad days, heartbreaks, and we make mistakes. It’s impossible to fix certain situations, but we can learn how to cope with them better. We can also learn from our mistakes, which is one of the upsides of this exercise.

Once you are finished with the negative, your mind will shift to positive experiences. It’s not black and white, since the brain can play tricks on us. You can be reminiscing about something great, and out of nowhere, you will remember something unfortunate in vivid detail. But let’s say we are on a mostly positive path now. Express gratitude for all the good that happened, acknowledge the things you created or made right. It can be financial gain, newfound love, or even a reaction to an unpleasant experience.

Looking back is an essential step for moving forward. Try to be as objective as possible to get to know yourself better. Do a little interview with yourself. Ask yourself what’s working, what is it that you learned from successes and failures, and you’ll get to the only question that matters. What’s next, where do you want to go from here? 

Write down your ideas and come back to the present moment. Don’t give yourself grades; don’t rate your feelings from the past. Continue with your day and be grateful that you get to see another year, full of possibilities and people who are here for you. Don’t forget to buy a gift for yourself, something that marks a new beginning, because this is the time when we’re buying for the ones we love. So pick something for the most significant person in your life – you!