Every fall, my employer does an annual review, a process that I once found tedious but over the years have come to view as an opportunity to reflect on the past year’s achievements and setbacks. In the beginning, the process seemed laborious because I had to stop what I was doing to look back. In the midst of ongoing deadlines and a heavy workload, I seldom felt I had time or energy to deeply review all the events, both planned and unplanned, that had taken place over the course of a whole year. And my boss didn’t have any specific expectations about how much effort should go into the review, as he too was very busy and likely wanted the process over quickly as well.
But because I realized this was the one chance each year I had to detail the many tasks and responsibilities I had taken on so that my supervisor would be aware of my productivity and value to the organization, I somehow found the time to do a deep dive back over the year to record all the milestones that had taken place. And to my surprise, there were a lot of accomplishments I had forgotten about. There were many challenges, too, and it would be important to list those as well so that I could better plan for how to make course corrections in the new year.
After a couple of years, I decided to keep a log of the major milestones and challenges as they happened so that when the annual review rolled around in the fall, I would be able to easily look back over the list and complete the report more quickly. Now it doesn’t take much time at all to complete the annual review, and it’s something I actually look forward to doing. I find it deeply gratifying to take stock of all the ups and downs, the highs and lows, at years end. This year, for example, the journal I work for celebrated 30 years of publication, a major milestone. But we also lost our beloved editor-in-chief who passed away shortly after retiring at the beginning of the year. Such a monumental moment in the journal’s history, not to mention in our own personal lives, is important to record for posterity and to reflect upon for understanding, meaning, and peace of mind and heart.
As the new year approaches, I see even greater value in taking time to reflect upon the previous year, not just at work but in my personal life as well. And perhaps 2026 will be the year I finally begin keeping a personal journal of the year’s happenings so that this annual reflection will become easier in time. In the past, I’ve only ever kept journals for jotting down story ideas.
How about you? As we look forward to 2026, I invite you to reflect upon the story of 2025. What kind of year was it for you? What milestones took place? Where did challenges arise? What was gained? Lost? Take a few minutes this New Year’s Eve to reflect and record your story.
But that’s not the only story I invite you to write. January is the month of looking forward, so take a couple of extra minutes to dream about what the new year holds in store for you. What are your hopes and wishes for this new year? What challenges are you ready to face head-on and put behind you in 2026?
It may seem tedious at first to stop what you’re doing to take inventory of the past and make plans for the future, but trust me, you’ll be thankful you did come next fall.
Happy New Year. I wish you a year of love, peace, and abundance — and I hope your writing well runs over with stories, new and old.
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