The Personal

Annual Review
7 Simple questions
that may change your life

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 The Personal Annual Review

It's hard to believe that

2023 is already coming to
a close.
Another year, come and gone.

While somewhat arbitrary, the end of the calendar year does present us all with a
valuable opportunity to reflect on the year that was, and plan for the year that will be.

It's easy to glaze over the former and focus on the latter, but failure to reflect will
eventually manifest as a failure to grow.

We do not learn from experience...


we learn from reflecting on
experience.”
John Dewey

I started conducting a Personal Annual Review over 10 years ago as I was nearing the
end of my time in college. It has been an immensely helpful exercise to which I would
credit many of my greatest areas of progress.

This ebook shares the template for my Personal Annual Review. I hope that it will
spark you to conduct your own before year-end, as I'm highly confident you will gain
the same value that I have from the exercise.

Here are the 7 simple questions that may change your life:

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 The Personal Annual Review

What did I
change my mind
on this year?
The most successful people legitimately enjoy
being wrong.
Always view changing your mind as a "software
update" that improves upon the old.
What "software updates" did I have this year?

If you can't think of any, that's a bad thing.

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 The Personal Annual Review

What did I change my

mind on this year?

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 The Personal Annual Review

What created
energy this
year?
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: More time on these in 2024.

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 The Personal Annual Review

What created energy

this year?
Activities Projects

People

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 The Personal Annual Review

What drained
energy this
year?
Review your calendars from the year.
What activities, people, or projects
consistently DRAINED energy from my
life?
Write them down.
Did I allow energy drainers to persist or
did I cut them in real time?

Goal: Less time on these in 2024.

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 The Personal Annual Review

What drained energy

this year?
Activities Projects

People

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 The Personal Annual Review

Who were the

boat anchors in
my life?
Boat anchors are people that hold you back from
your potential.
Boat anchors will:
Belittle your accomplishments
Laugh at your ambition
Harm the quality of your environment
Identify them.

Goal: Slowly eliminate their influence in 2024.

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 The Personal Annual Review

Who were the boat

anchors in my life?

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 The Personal Annual Review

What did I not

do because of
fear?
Fear distorts reality—this question forces you
to confront it.

We suFFer more in Deconstruct the fears:

imagination than What was the downside?

in reality.” What was the upside?

Seneca
Goal: Get closer to your fears in 2024.

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 The Personal Annual Review

What did I not do

because of fear?
Fear 1

Downsides Upsides

Fear 2

Downsides Upsides

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 The Personal Annual Review

What were my
greatest hits and
worst misses
this year?
Your natural bias skews how you see
your year—the optimist sees all hits
and the pessimist sees all misses.
The objective here is a balanced view.
Write them all down.
Reflect on why the hits hit and the
misses missed.

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 The Personal Annual Review

What were my greatest hits

and worst misses this year?
Greatest hits Worst misses

Reflect Reflect

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 The Personal Annual Review

What did I learn

this year?
The most important question comes last.
It's easy to lose sight of growth in the
trenches—zoom out to reclaim
perspective.

Take your time.

Reflect on the other questions.
Write down what you've learned.

When you stop learning

you start dying." Albert Einstein

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 The Personal Annual Review

What did I learn

this year?

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Your Year in
Review
To get even more out of it, try conducting the Personal
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. Provide feedback.
The Personal Annual Review is a life changing exercise. I hope this guide helps
you conduct your own!

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