Annual Review Format

Dec 28, 2020 See all posts

Reviews are very important to drive personal growth.

If a plane deviates 1 degree off its course, it misses its target destination by 1 mile for every 60 miles it flies. Further you go, further away from the destination it gets. Like every thing, mistakes compound too. This is true in life as well. So, every once in a while, it’s a great idea to review, are you on the right path.

These questions I use to review, If I am running on the right track. I collected these from various productivity Youtubers like Ali Abdaal, Captain Sinbad, Thomas Frank etc.

  1. What am I doing right now, does it make long term sense?
  2. Am I enjoying what I do? a. If yes, then can it still take me to my goal? b. If no, then is it due to the pain of discipline or the pain of uselessness. c. If it is useless, can i delete it completely?
  3. What would I do for free, because I enjoy doing it?
  4. What would I do EVEN if I know it will fail?
  5. What would I do if no one was watching and success was inevitable in it?
  6. How much of my day is spent, in doing things that make long term sense?
  7. What are the areas where I am getting distracted? How much of that distraction may be useful in future?
  8. Compared to last week, what I think about my progress? Have I improved? If not, then, Was it due to events beyond my control?

The important part about this exercise that you should be brutally honest with yourself. If there is even a little bit of comforting lie, it can wreck us in the long run. However, the good part is, when done repeatedly, week over week, its becomes really hard to deviate from your destination, because You cannot run away from yourself for long. And that is when, progress happens.

Yearly Review Questions

The bare-minimum questions:

  1. When have you felt proud of yourself in 2020? what were you doing?
  2. If you had to teach one thing you learnt this year (that would improve one’s quality of life) what would that be?
  3. What kept you up at night with excitement this year? Was it worth it? Would you want to do more of it?

Give-me-more questions:

  1. How did you have fun differently in 2020?
  2. How did you suffer differently in 2020?
  3. What people/kind of people did you spend less time with in 2020?
  4. What people/kind of people did you spend more time with in 2020?
  5. What did you feel guilty for in 2020?
  6. What 3 people are you the most grateful to in 2020 and why? How can you thank them? How can you find more people like this in your life?
  7. What have you learnt about the way that you deal with uncertainty in 2020?
  8. What new habits did you create in 2020? Which ones would you want to keep?
  9. Did you feel you spent enough time with your family/significant other in 2020? How would you change this in 2021?
  10. What things did you stop caring about in 2020?
  11. What new thing did you spend a lot of money on in 2020?
  12. What new thing did you spend a lot of time on in 2020?
  13. What do you feel you’ve gotten a lot better at in 2020?
  14. What did you rediscover pleasure in in 2020?
  15. When you felt at peace this year, what were you doing?
  16. Which of last years goals did you not achieve? Why did you not achieve them? Will you carry them on to 2021 and if not why?
  17. How much closer are you to your “by this age” milestones (if you have any)? Do you find yourself caring less or more about these?
  18. At the end of next year, if you are drastically exceeding your expectations, what would you be doing?

Enjoyed the article? I write about 1-2 a month. Subscribe via email or RSS feed.