End 2024 Strong: 4 Questions to Reset and Thrive in 2025
We are getting close to the end of the year and now is the best time to reflect on the year which is about to finish and think about the year that is about to start, both of them by the use of journaling.
A year-end review is the perfect opportunity to celebrate what you accomplished during the year, gain clarity on what you want to accomplish the following year, and reflect on the meaningful and memorable things you experienced along the way. In addition, this process is also the perfect time to look beyond the big goals you set for yourself and examine all the other important experiences and memories you created along the way.
I have created a FREE PDF, Reflect, Reset, Renew, for you with prompt for your end-of-the-year and new-year journaling. The download link is at the end of the article.
As you pull out your journal to begin your year-end review, here are four things to include:
1. Your Biggest Accomplishments and Challenges
You will go through many challenges and obstacles throughout your life, but you will also experience many amazing moments in the process. This ebb and flow is part of the natural rhythm of life.
When you are doing your year-end review, you’ll want to take a balanced approach when it comes to these cycles. Don’t focus exclusively on the “bad” or unfortunate things you were forced to overcome, or ignore the challenges to focus exclusively on the good. Life is about balance and your combined experiences, both good and bad, teach you a lot about yourself and how resilient you are.
A thorough year-end review can help you learn and grow. It can also help you process what you’ve experienced and acknowledge how far you have come. It allows you to see what goals you achieved and how far you’ve come, even if you didn’t reach every milestone you initially set.
As the year draws to a close, use your journal to write about what you achieved and how those accomplishments made you feel. Then, dig into the challenges you faced and what important lessons they helped you learn.
2. How You Changed This Year
A well-balanced year-end review isn’t just about what you accomplished or what challenges you faced. It is also a great time to reflect on how you personally changed and grew as a result of your experiences, both good and bad. Chances are you are not the same person you were when the year started, so spend a little time reflecting on how you’ve evolved.
Over the course of a year, you are bound to experience many unexpected events, beautiful moments, shared memories, and difficult days. By themselves, none of these experiences define you. They are all valuable because they help you become the person you are and the person you strive to be. Take some time to write in your journal about who you are now compared to who you were at the beginning of the year, highlighting all of the beautiful and profound ways you have changed.
3. Most Memorable and Enjoyable Moments from the Year
During your year-end review, have a little fun by writing about the most memorable and happy moments you experienced over the last 12 months. These are part of your core memories of the year. They are the moments you’d like to keep fresh in your mind. Whether it’s the party you went to on New Year’s Eve, that amazing first date, the snowy Sunday spent in front of a warm fire snuggled up with your pets, or the hilarious movie you watched with your best friend, take a minute and write them all down so you’ll always have them close by.
There’s a good chance your year was made up of many such moments and unique experiences. Some will stay fresh in your mind with very little effort, while others will gradually fade away if you don’t try to preserve them. Your journal is the perfect place to honor and store these memories so you can look back on them and remember where you were at this particular point in your life.
4. How You Want to Do Better Next Year
As you wrap up your year-end review, take some time to look ahead. While it’s great to look back to see how far you’ve come, it is important to keep an eye on the future, as well. Personal growth and development is a never-ending process, so take this opportunity to create a clear picture in your journal of how you plan to approach the gift of another new year.
What do you plan to accomplish? What do you want to see and experience? How would you like your life to be different and better by this time next year? These are just a few of the many great questions you can ask yourself as you look forward to the year ahead.
Now let’s talk about starting your new year.
The start of a new year is all about new beginnings. It is the perfect time to set goals, develop healthy habits, and decide how you want to transform yourself, your career, and your life. There are many ways to do this and many tools you can use, but a journal is one of the best ways to set your goals and resolutions for the New Year ahead.
Here are 3 Great Tips to Use Your Journal to Plan Your New Year:
1. Set Your Intentions and Word of the Year
The first thing you can do with your journal is set your intentions for the year. This is different than setting goals, because they are more about how you expect your year to go. Ideally, you put your heart and soul behind your intentions, so this is a great place to start when planning your year.
With intentions, you are committing to changes you want to make throughout the different aspects of your life. For example, you can set intentions for your personal life, your habits and routines, your career, and your budget and finances.
A great way to use your journal for setting intentions is to start by writing a stream of consciousness entry, similar to a brain dump. Focus on the year you want to have, and write down everything that comes to mind. This can include a combination of specific details about what you want to accomplish this year, how you want to feel, and the level of personal growth you want to experience. Notice any patterns that emerge and what makes you feel excited and energized. By journaling your thoughts and feelings about the upcoming year you will come up with some amazing intentions.
While you are at it, this is also a great time to choose your word of the year. The word of the year is another way to set an intention, but with a more specific focus. Words such as “balance,” “transformation,” and “growth” are a few examples to help you get you started.
2. Visualize Your Year and Reflect on What You Want
Visualization allows you to see what kind of year you want to have, so it can help you to choose meaningful intentions, set worthwhile goals, and define your New Years’ resolutions. A visualization practice goes beyond a basic brain dump where you write about all the thoughts and feelings swirling around in your head. Instead, it helps transform those disorganized thoughts and emotions into a detailed image you can clearly see.
Start by writing a detailed picture of what your dream life (or dream year) looks like in your journal. When you think about the intentions you are setting and the type of year you want to have, what does it look like? What can you see? Who is in it? How does your life look different than it is now? If you achieve all your goals, what will you see, think, and feel? Be as detailed as possible for the best results.
You should be able to create a clear picture by using your journal for this exercise. Once you can see what you want clearly, it will be much easier to set practical goals and create habits to transform this vision into reality.
3. Set Your Annual Goals and Resolutions
Annual goals and resolutions are similar, but resolutions usually refer to specific things you plan to do all year long, while goals are something you work toward that have a finite end. For example, you may set a resolution of adding a 30-minute walk to your schedule every day, with a goal of losing10 pounds by a certain date.
Some popular resolutions include adopting a specific diet or embracing a healthier lifestyle by incorporating daily exercise into it. Resolutions could also include adding a positive new habit to your daily routine, such as reading, going to sleep by a certain time, or learning a new skill.
A goal is something you want to accomplish or achieve during the year, but it won’t necessarily require the entire year to complete. Examples of goals include saving a specific amount of money by a certain date, finding a new job, or buying a house.
Your journal is a great tool for clarifying your annual goals and resolutions. You can use it to brainstorm ideas, refine your focus, and track your progress as you work toward building the life of your dreams. Enjoy it.
Grab your journal here: Reflect, Reset, Renew
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