The past three years, I’ve done extensive annual reviews, excavating my past year for lessons, and setting goals for the coming one. Each time, the process took me at least a month. Though I’ve enjoyed going deep into reflection-mode, I’ve found that I really don’t look at my annual reviews beyond a few bullet points. So I’m using the 80-20 principle for my review this year: hopefully getting most of the benefits in 20% of the effort.
On a deeper level, I’ve realized that while a big yearly reflection can be helpful, the truly important thing is reflecting on my life much more frequently. The analogy that came to me today was that an annual review is like a huge infusion of the medicine of self-awareness and reflection. What I want, ideally, is to take this medicine much more frequently. I want to practice mindfulness of my thoughts and actions, and reflection on whether I’m living my values, multiple times a day.
With all that being said, here’s my minimal and intuitive “annual post-it note” — the things I want to focus on in 2024:
Theme for the year: Inner peace
Beacons for 2024:
— Track what leads to good sleep. Do more of these things.
— See people as souls.
— Say YES: be open to life, to newness.
— Say NO: rest and reclaim solitude when I feel tired or overwhelmed.
— Be: grateful, honest, unhurried, tender, generous, creative, cooperative.
danscreativeoulet 