Jennifer and I sat down yesterday to have our end-of-year review and start-of-year planning discussions, which we do every year. Sometimes these are two separate conversations, but this time we had them both in one sitting. We typically have these discussions over dinner at a nice restaurant to create a sense of occasion. In light of the pandemic, though, we just sat in the living room with a fire in the fireplace.
There’s a short list of questions we typically ask ourselves — things like, what did you accomplish this year, and what’s incomplete. But in a newsletter I received recently from David Allen, he offered a longer list of questions to ask when doing this kind of review, so we tried them out. I discovered that I liked Allen’s questions for completing the past year but wasn’t thrilled with the ones he proposed for looking at the year ahead. So when Jennifer and I had finished our conversation, I sat down and revised Allen’s template for us to use next year. Here’s what I came up with:
Consider key areas of focus, for example:
- Fitness & Well-being
- Work & Career
- Prosperity & Financial Health
- Contribution & Making a Difference
- House & Home
- Recreation & Travel
- Love & Friendship
- Systems & Structures
- Personal Development & Skill Building
Completing the past year
- What were your wins and accomplishments this year?
- What are you grateful for?
- What risks did you take?
- What was your greatest contribution?
- What unfinished business do you have from this year?
- What are you most happy about completing?
- Who were the people who had the biggest impact on your life this year?
- What was your biggest surprise?
- What do you regret?
- What would you like to be acknowledged for?
- What else do you need to do or say to be complete with the year?
- What one word or phrase sums up and describes your experience this year?
Looking forward to the coming year:
- What do you want to accomplish this year?
- What possibilities do you want to explore?
- What would make this year better than last year?
- What capabilities do you want to develop, or develop further?
- How do you intend to make a difference this year?
- What would you be pleased to have happen this year?
- What brings you the most joy or satisfaction?
- How are going to do or have more of that?