Conducting A Purposeful Year-End Review

24 prompts to help you reflect on your current year before moving on to the next!

If you could describe your 2024 in three words, which words would you choose?

We’re often quick to categorize an entire year as either ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ Recency bias plays a big part, too - your past month or two might color your view of the entire year. In actuality, however, the past 365 days have likely been filled with much more nuance.

So before we enter into 2025, I encourage you to review 2024 purposefully - both to provide an accurate picture of the year you’re wrapping up, as well as to inspire meaningful direction for the one ahead. The prompts below are designed to help you celebrate your wins, acknowledge what you’ve learned, and set the stage for a new year filled with intention.

Are you ready?

Your year-end review can include wins, challenges, unexpected delights, meaningful actions, and - perhaps most importantly - what you’ve learned.

Before We Begin

Before jumping into your year-end review, a few suggestions:

• Start by completing the items below from memory alone. See what stands out as you mentally scan over your year with these prompts.

• Then, feel free to pull out some memory-joggers: your planner or calendar, camera roll, journal, trackers, or whatever tools you use to document your life.

• Complete your review in one sitting or spread it out over a few days, whatever serves you best. Depending on when you read this article, you could even complete a prompt a day between now and the end of the year.

• Remove any hints of shame or self-judgment as you review your year. Maybe you didn’t achieve all that you had planned, but you are farther along than you were a year ago, in all kinds of ways! Focus on purposeful growth rather than perfection.

• Answer as many, or as few, of the items as you’d like - whatever feels helpful, supportive, growth-oriented, celebratory, meaningful. No one is coming around to make sure you’ve completed all 24 prompts!

I sometimes give myself 3-5 bullet points for each prompt to keep things manageable. If the review seems daunting, you might adopt a similar strategy; otherwise, let your writing flow.

Your Year In Review

Grab a favorite beverage, pull out a pen and notebook, and see what appears on your page with the following prompts:

1. Moments that bring a smile to your face:

2. Meaningful achievements:

3. Unexpected delights:

4. Lessons learned:

5. Relationships you developed or strengthened:

6. Habits you formed or continued:

7. People, causes, or organizations you supported:

   

8. Fears you courageously faced:

9. Actions that supported your professional development (classes, coaches, books, conferences, etc.):

10. Actions that supported your personal growth:

11. Simple pleasures you enjoyed:

12. Goals you reached and what helped:

13. Goals you didn’t reach and what you learned:

14. Activities you did just for fun (ie, vacation, learning a craft, attending a concert):

15. Challenges and how you navigated them:

16. Your annual theme (aka word of the year) and examples of how it played out:

    

    If you don’t already, consider conducting a brief monthly review throughout 2025. It definitely helps when year-end review time rolls around!

17. New things you tried for the first time:

18. Projects you started, made progress on, or completed:

19. Daily, weekly, or monthly routines you established:

20. Favorites (book, movie, album, meal, coffee shop, etc.):

21. Gratitudes or newfound appreciation:

22. Times you felt purposeful, intentional, fulfilled, or ‘in the zone’:

23. Ways you grew:

24. Beautiful, peaceful, joyful, or extraordinary moments to savor:

One Year Wrapping Up, A New One Beginning

Now that you’ve completed your year-end review, what three words would you choose to describe your 2024? Do they differ from the words you initially chose before examining your year a bit more closely?

Take some time to celebrate yourself, your year, and all the growth you’ve experienced. Pat yourself on the back for your resilience and perseverance. Honor the person you are, and the person you’re becoming.

Then, stay tuned: upcoming articles include a fresh list of prompts to help you intentionally design your next year, a recap of my annual theme and how you can set a meaningful one for 2025, favorite books of the year, and more. Make sure you’re subscribed so you catch them all!

Questions? Comments? Books or topics you’d like me to discuss here? Feel free to email me at readingandpurpose (at) gmail.com or comment on this post directly in the app/website. I love hearing from you and I appreciate your support!