Some of my most insightful realizations and best moments of growth have come from the simple act of taking time to reflect.
Reflecting started out as something I would take time to do around my birthday or before the end of the year, but it’s really become something I do daily. I have several ways to process and journal, and I set up a monthly and weekly reflection system.
The most full reflection for me is every December, when I reflect on the full year. This exercise leads me to start planning for the year ahead, another one of my favorite things to do.
With all that, I’m gearing up to do my end-of-year reflection, and there is really no right time to do this, so I wanted to share the whole process.
My favorite moment for this exercise is between Christmas and New Year’s, that’s just when I’m in the mood for it. But any time you feel that natural pull to pause and look back is great.
So here’s how I think on this reflection and some of the prompts I’ve been using.
Why A Full-Year Reflection Is Worth The Time
When I think back on a year without intentional reflection, my brain defaults to recency bias. I’ll remember the last few months clearly, maybe one or two major events, and that’s about it. But there’s so much more to a year than what’s most recent or most dramatic.
Full-year reflection helps me see patterns I’d otherwise miss. It surfaces small wins that deserve celebration and shifts that shaped the trajectory of my year. It’s how I make sure the story I tell myself about the year is accurate and complete.
This year, for example, my theme turned out to be “change and new beginnings.” We moved to a new state, which meant new schools for both kids and completely restructured routines. I earned my purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and my work shifted significantly as our team evolved and we adapted to AI continuing to make waves in marketing.
None of this was what I imagined at the start of the year. I knew the move would make it busy, but I couldn’t have predicted how these changes would compound and interweave. Looking back with intention helped me see the full arc instead of just individual events.
That complete picture becomes incredibly valuable when I start planning for the upcoming year. It gives me context for what worked, what didn’t, and what I want to carry forward.
The Areas and Angles I Explore
I approach reflection from multiple angles to capture the full story.
Here are the main areas I review:
Goals and habits: If I set specific goals or habits for the year, I look at my progress. Did I reach them? If not, what got in the way? What did I learn from the attempts?
Reading and learning: I review how many books I read because that’s an indicator of how much space I’m creating for relaxation and learning. I also look at what I was focused on throughout the year based on what I chose to read.
Life domains: I run through work, family, relationships, health, hobbies, and personal life. For each area, I look for both highlights and low points, big changes and small shifts.
Celebrations and challenges: What am I genuinely proud of this year? What were the hardest moments? What surprised me?
Themes and patterns: After reviewing everything, I look for undercurrents. What themes emerge when I zoom out? What patterns do I notice about how I spent my time or energy?
Reflection Prompts
While I adjust my questions each year based on what I’m curious about, here are some I consistently return to:
- What were the biggest highlights of this year?
- What were the most challenging moments, and what did I learn from them?
- What am I most proud of accomplishing?
- What surprised me about this year?
- If I set goals, which ones did I reach? Which ones didn’t I reach, and why?
- What patterns do I notice when I look at the full year?
- What theme would I give this year?
- What do I want to carry forward into next year?
- What do I want to leave behind?
How I Run My End-Of-Year Reflection
I’ve found that the environment matters. I like to reflect somewhere that’s not my home, usually a coffee shop. Something about that physical separation from my regular space helps me think more clearly.
I’ve experimented with both journaling by hand and using Notion for reflection. Both work well, but lately I’ve been leaning heavily on a method that plays to my strengths as a verbal processor.
The Voice Note Method
Because I’m an external processor who thinks out loud, I do a lot of my reflection by recording voice notes. I’ll talk through my thoughts, then use AI to transcribe and summarize what I said.
This approach captures more reflection in less time than writing or typing because I can speak much faster than I can write. It also feels more natural to me — I’m processing the way my brain actually works rather than forcing myself into a method that fights my natural thinking style.
Here’s the process:
- Find the right spot (I like to record voice notes while walking or driving)
- Open a voice recording app (I use Apple Notes)
- Talk through the reflection questions out loud, following my thoughts wherever they lead
- Use AI to transcribe and pull out key themes and insights
- Review the summary to identify patterns and themes I want to remember
This method has completely changed my reflection practice. Instead of staring at a blank page wondering what to write, I’m having a conversation with myself and capturing everything that comes up.
Making This Work for Your Style
The key is finding a reflection method that works with your natural processing style, not against it.
The goal isn’t to follow my exact system. It’s to understand how you process best and design your reflection around that.
When to Reflect
I love doing this exercise between Christmas and New Year’s, but that’s just my preference. The timing matters less than making it happen at all.
You can do this in early December before things get hectic. You can do it in mid-January after you’ve had time to decompress from the holidays. You can do it around your birthday, which I also love as a natural reflection point.
The key is finding a moment when you feel that natural pull to pause and look back. Those moments of natural momentum are powerful — lean into them whenever they appear.
If you’re reading this months from now, you can absolutely still do this exercise. There’s no rule that says reflection only counts if it happens in December.
What Makes This Worth Your Time
This reflection exercise has consistently been one of the most valuable things I do each year. It helps me:
Spot patterns I’d otherwise miss. Small behaviors and choices that seemed random in the moment often reveal themselves as meaningful patterns when I zoom out.
Celebrate wins I’ve already forgotten. Recency bias means I often overlook achievements from earlier in the year. Reflection brings them back into view.
Understand what’s actually working. Sometimes I’m surprised by what brought the most fulfillment or progress—and it’s not always what I expected.
Shape better plans for next year. When I start planning for the upcoming year, I’m doing it with complete context rather than just the last few months of experience.
Tell myself the right story. The narrative I construct about my year matters. Intentional reflection helps me build an accurate, empowering story instead of one shaped by whatever’s most recent.
This exercise will help you grow, evolve how you want to show up in the coming year, and give you clarity on what matters most.
Bookmark this to come back to when you’re ready. And when you do it, I’d genuinely love to hear what you discover. If you already have a reflection practice, let me know what approaches work best for you — I’m always learning from others’ systems.