111 year-in-review questions

With a year like 2020, it can be tempting to put it in the rear view mirror, hit the gas, and leave it far behind. But if you do, you’ll be cheating yourself.

You have already made the investment of a year of your life. You can either jump into the next year and never look back, or you can take some time to harvest the return on that investment – the insight, knowledge, and seeds for positive change you’ll find with a year-in-review exploration.

Below are some questions to get you started. There are waaaaaay too many to answer each one (trying to would be a great recipe for ending up saying, “Ah, screw it. Never mind.”). Instead, scan through the list and see which ones jump out. Pick your top ten (or five, or three) and dive in.

Keep in mind that this past year was a wild and woolly one, so approach your review with compassion. The point of this review is to harvest the learnings the year has to offer, not to judge your performance, achievements, or even the state of your life. Be kind to yourself as you explore.

On a related note, this list is based on year-in-review questions I have posed in the past. There are some questions – especially the ones about spending time with others – that might not feel as relevant as they might in an ordinary year. I’m leaving them in for those who might still find them valuable, but feel free to ignore them.

Finally, remember that this isn’t an assessment of how you “measured up.” It is simply a way to squeeze as much juice from the last year as you can so you can apply it to your future. There is as much to be learned from the negative elements as there is from the positive. Maybe more.

To consciously bridge between this review of the past and your life in the future, one helpful addition to any of these questions might be, “And how can I apply what I learned here next year?”

And now…drum roll, please…let the review begin!

Energy

What energized me? Why? What was it about it that felt so energizing?
What drained my energy? Why? What was it about it that drained my energy?

Positive Impact

How did I make a positive impact in the world?
Who did I help?
What opportunities to help did I miss that I could take advantage of in the future?
What was better because of me?
How did I have a positive effect on other people’s lives?

Negative Impact

How did I make a negative impact in the world?
How did I ignore the needs of others?
How did I have a negative effect on other people’s lives?

Positive aspects of your life

What am I grateful for?
What felt meaningful?
What really mattered?
How have I fed love in my life?
What were my successes?
What was my high point?
What am I proud of?
What choices did I make that left me feeling good about myself?
What aspects of my life did I embrace fully?
What would I like to carry forward into next year?

Negative aspects of your life

What were my failures? What can I learn from them?
What was my low point?
What am I ashamed of?
What choices did I make that left me feeling bad about myself?
What did I think mattered that didn’t really?
What felt empty and flat?

Supportive and uplifting approaches

What stories did I tell myself that supported being who and how I want to be?
How did I nourish myself (mentally, emotionally, and/or physically)?
What helped me be my highest self?
How did I feed a sense of hope?
How did I focus on what’s good in my life?
What habits or choices supported my physical well-being?
What habits or choices supported my emotional well-being?
What habits or choices supported my spiritual well-being?
How did I live from the heart?
How have I focused on what’s good in my life?
What habits helped me live the life I want to live?
If I could pick one thing (one thing I did, one way I responded, one change I made, etc.) that most reflects who I aspire to be, what would it be?

Limiting and unhelpful approaches

What limiting stories did I tell myself?
How did I ignore my own needs?
How have I fed fear in my life?
How have I focused on what’s wrong?
What negative reactions am I holding on to?
What hindered me from being my highest self?
What habits or choices worked against my physical well-being?
What habits or choices worked against my emotional well-being?
What habits or choices worked against my spiritual well-being?
What habits hindered me from living the life I want to live?
How did I compromise the future I want?
What habits hindered me from living the life I want to live?
What aspects of my life did I resist?

Receiving

How did I open myself to receiving?
What help did I need that I didn’t ask for?
What help was offered that I didn’t take?

Self-alignment

How did I spend my time? What does that say about what I actually value?
How did I spend my money? What does that say about what I actually value?
How did I live in sync with my values?
How did I live out of sync with my values?
How was I my authentic self?
How was I inauthentic?
How did I live with integrity?
How did I live out of integrity?

Challenges

What challenges did I face? What did I learn from them?
What tools did I gain from the challenges I faced that I can apply to facing future challenges?
If I faced the same challenge now, how would I do it differently based on what I learned?

Growth and change

How did I grow?
How am I different today than I was a year ago?
How is life different than it was a year ago?
How did I plant seeds for a positive future?
What change did I embrace fully?
What change did I resist?

Learnings

What did I learn from what went well?
What did I learn from what didn’t go well?
What did I learn from trying something new and succeeding?
What did I learn from trying something new and failing?

Your experience of yourself

How did I celebrate/acknowledge/reinforce my positive qualities?
What positive things about myself in the past year am I not fully acknowledging?
What am I judging about myself in the past year that I can let go of?
If the last year was a movie, what role did my character play? (the hero? the victim? the villain?) Why do I think that?

Who in my life

Who influenced me positively?
Who influenced me negatively?
Who helped me?
Who do I want to thank?
Who are the main people in my life? How did each one of them impact me positively?
Who was uplifting to be around?
Who was it draining to be around?
Who helped me believe in myself?
Who had a negative effect on my belief in myself?
Who encouraged me?
Who discouraged me?

Do-over

What would I do differently if I could do it over?
Who do I wish I had spent more time with?
Who do I wish I had spent less time with?
What do I wish I had spent more time doing?
What do I wish I had spent less time doing?
What community or group of people do I wish I had spent more time with?
What community or group of people do I wish I had spent less time with?
When did I say no that I wish I had said yes?
When did I say yes that I wish I had said no?

Spiritual

How did I walk my spiritual path?
How did I live my faith?
What helped me feel spiritually connected?
What made me feel spiritually disconnected?

More / Less

What do I wish I had had more of in the last year?
What do I wish I had had less of in the last year?

Connection

Where did I experience connection with people?
Where did I feel disconnected with people?
How did I reach out to connect with people?
How did I shut myself off from connection with people?
How did I feed positive, healthy relationships in my life?
How did I get in the way of positive, healthy relationships in my life?

Clarity, focus, and direction

Where did I feel like I had clear direction?
Where did I feel confused?

So there you have it! 111 questions to get the most out of the year you just lived. Which ones did you find most helpful? Are there any I didn’t include that you like to ask? Let me know in the comments. I would love to hear what you thought. 

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