As 2014 is bidding farewell, the blogosphere is filled with people making their annual reviews. Among the many reviews I was able to read were those of Leo Babauta, Chris Guillebeau, and Scott Dinsmore.
In simple terms, an annual review is a practice done usually at the end of the year, which aims to look at the different things that transpired in one’s life over the course of an entire year. The review consists of three parts:
- What went well throughout the year?
- What went wrong throughout the year?
- What will the coming year look like?
Guide For Your Annual Review
There are several awesome guides that could help you write your own annual review but for me, only two were really notable.
First is Chris Guillebeau’s process. What he does is that at the end of the year, he withdraws in a cabin in the woods for a week and does his annual review using a fairly simple template in the form of a spreadsheet and which he makes available for download at his site.
If you are interested, check out the template here as well as his really interesting annual review for 2014 here. Chris is really an achieved person. Having published several New York Times bestsellers, I think his annual review is worth checking out.
The best template for me I think is Scott Dinsmore’s free workbook. Aside from the usual successes and failures roundup, he really guides you throughout goal-setting and weekly planning, which shows you how dedicated Scott really is in terms of the actual realization of your dreams and aspirations. I used it for doing my own annual review and I highly recommend his workbook. Get the free PDF files here.
What Went Well In 2014?
Now, I would like to share to you the results of my own Annual Review of 2014.
Here is a list of the things that went well in my year.
- I discovered I was a polymath.
- I started Philippine Disability History.
- I lost weight.
- I graduated (finally).
- I discovered lifestyle design.
- I discovered the blogosphere.
- I learned a lot about the real me.
- I got my first entrepreneurial gig as a writer and archivist.
- I was able to survive as a freelancer for one year.
- I launched a website and became a real blogger.
- I launched a free eBook.
- I deepened and rejuvenated several key relationships.
- I found my spirituality again.
- I worked at my first full-time job.
- I experienced living inside UP Diliman and at Metro Manila for one month.
- I saw Bulusan lake.
- I was able to pay for my own meds.
- I was able to join Fizzle for free, trained, and made new friends online.
What Went Wrong In 2014?
With all the successes I had the past year, here are their negative counterparts. Many of these were not necessarily bad. The truth is that the biggest failures we have are actually also our biggest successes because they ultimately point us in the right direction.
Here are my failures throughout the year and I’m happy I had them.
- I feel some regret for not pursuing some available jobs.
- I thought I could live in Manila with very little cash but I was wrong.
- I was not able to control my anger and I waged war with my neighbors which made them very defensive and which makes it difficult to talk peace with them today.
- I failed to maintain my lifestyle and I have to move out of the house and the town because situations were getting worse.
- I failed with creating a good blog many times because I did not know what I was doing and I just experimented along the way.
- I assumed that starting a business was easy but it was way more difficult.
- I failed in building a really quality relationship with my girlfriend.
- I failed in building deeper relationships with my family, relatives, and friends.
- I was not able to surround myself with the right people.
- I was not able to build a mastermind group who would support me as I pursue my dreams and goals.
- I was not able to build any savings.
- I was not able to pay for my monthly health insurance regularly.
- I did not achieve any financial goals this year.
- My physical and mental health was poor the majority of the year.
- I was not able to make significant progress in some passions and skills I wanted to develop.
What 2015 Would Look Like For Me
Now given all these things that went wrong this 2014, how would I want to improve?
Here are the specific areas I wanted to put my attention on as well as goals that correspond with them.
Areas of Attention
Health
- Mental Health
- Physical Health
- Environment
- Relationships
- Spirituality
Money
- Source of Monthly Income
- Insurance
- Savings
- Financial Goal
Passion
- Blogging
Goals
Mental Health
Sleep: Develop good sleeping habits for two months (with the goal of continuing the habit).
Laptop: Decrease exposure to my laptop for two months (with the goal of continuing the habit).
Irritability: Manage anger and irritability for two months (with the goal of continuing the habit).
Relationships: Develop deep and healthy relationships with several key people in my life for two months (with the goal of continuing the habit).
Mindfulness: Follow the Mindfulness Program for 2 months and see what happens.
Yoga: Practice Yoga for two months (with the goal of continuing the habit).
Physical Health
- Eating Habits: Develop good eating habits for two months (with the goal of continuing the habit).
- Exercise: Do cardio exercise 30 minutes every day for two months (with the goal of continuing the habit).
- Increase Physical Activity: Gradually increase the baseline 30 minutes of exercise every day until I develop a habit of one hour every day for two months (with the goal of continuing the habit).
- Decrease Food Intake: Decrease food intake for two months (with the goal of continuing the habit).
- Lose Weight: Increase physical activity while decreasing food intake for two months (with the goal of continuing the habit).
Environment
- I want to create a relatively peaceful, calmer, cleaner, and natural environment.
Relationships
- I want to be surrounded by the right people + create a mastermind group.
Spirituality
- I want to learn Buddhism and practice Yoga.
Work
- I want to find a job that I will learn to love and that I could keep until I can start a business of my own.
Insurance
- Allot a specific amount of money every month for health insurance, etc.
Savings
- Save a specific amount of money every month for unforeseen emergencies and opportunities.
Online Business
- Save and spend a specific amount of money for starting and developing an online business.
Goodbye 2014
So that’s it for my year. Setting goals and achieving them are two different things and I hope that I could really set myself up to the challenge of doing all these things I laid in front of me.
How about you?
How will you say goodbye to 2014?