My year end review takes an hour.
Not because the year was simple. Because the reviews roll up.
Each night I review the day. At the end of each week, I review those seven daily entries. At the end of the month, those weekly entries. End of the quarter, three monthly entries. End of the year, four quarterly entries. Like Russian nesting dolls. Each layer only looks at the layer below it.
The yearly review does not require me to remember January. It requires me to read twelve documents. The monthly does not require me to remember a random Tuesday in March. It requires me to read seven entries.
Each layer asks two questions:
- What went well?
- What could you have improved?
Each week, the best answers from the daily entries get force ranked. The best from the weekly reviews get rolled into monthly and force ranked again. Same all the way up. Not everything makes the cut.
Daily takes less than five minutes. Weekly, about fifteen. Monthly, fifteen. Quarterly, thirty. The yearly, thirty to an hour.
Experience plus reflection equals progress. But the part that surprises me each year is what rises to the top.
In 2025, the top three “what went well” items were not buying property. Not launching HeadsUp. Not the external milestones.
The top three were:
- Meditating for two hours a day again.
- Writing my goals on a daily basis.
- Using a habit tracking app again.
The cosmetic wins never outrank the habitual ones.
📅
What went well for you last year?
