Intro

<aside> <img src="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" alt="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" width="40px" /> *Hi, I’m Franko

I've been iterating on an Annual Review exercise for the past five years. It's become a valuable way for me to digest, reflect, and capture my memories, taste, and state of mind.*

I know everyone has hot takes on New Years resolutions (’don’t wait for 1 January, just start now!’) but as the holiday period (and my birthday) are well timed, I shake these off quite easily. I think season-bound rituals are beautiful.

I have assembled this review from a few different sources, but the majority of the content and structure come from Steve Schlafman. I’ve distilled and made my own a bit, and hope you can find some value here as well. Here are a few other formats and guides to reference for inspiration.

• Patricia Mou’s ✨ Annual Review Template
• Tyler Pearson’s Antifragile Planning SOP
• Shane Parish (TKP) Personal Annual Review
• Year Compass - Booklet and Template
• Annual Review 2020 - David Perell
• Agile Lean Life Year in Review (50+ Questions for annual reflection)

If you would like to yarn on an alternative approach, your own reflection or anything in between, I would very much enjoy it. → frankoali(at)gmail.com

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uk981NZkLg&ab_channel=JockoPodcast

https://twitter.com/jamesclear/status/1477686252333903877?s=11

Pre-work

<aside> <img src="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" alt="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" width="40px" /> A few rapid-fire questions to ask yourself — to help you establish a foundation before you begin the bulk of this exercise.

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1. Why are you doing this?
2. Will you do this in a group? Alone?
3. Who will you share your reflection with for feedback and accountability?
4. How much time will you dedicate to this exercise? Recommend breaking it up over several hours and the course of a week or so — to stay focused but allow room for stillness.

Exercise 1: Moments, Milestones, Favorites

<aside> <img src="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" alt="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Create a timeline that plots your major moments, milestones, and memories, on a quarterly cadence. Reference: Calendar, journal, social media, email, photos, health data.

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Visual cues and memories

<aside> <img src="/icons/drafts_orange.svg" alt="/icons/drafts_orange.svg" width="40px" /> *I use an app called 1SecondEveryday to take and compile a one second video clip from each day, assembling a ~6 minute video for the entire year.

The point for me here is to not just capture highlights, but the mundanity of life, alongside highs and lows. Another perk is this helps jog your memory for the next part of this exercise.*

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<aside> <img src="/icons/drafts_orange.svg" alt="/icons/drafts_orange.svg" width="40px" /> Include some photos of yourself, your space(s), and anything else that isn’t captured well in the video of your year. I am a visual rememberer, and likely not the only one who gets overwhelmed in his camera roll… so this is crucial for me.

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