Hi friends,

It’s that time when we start to reflect on how the past year has gone and changes that we’d like to make in the New Year. I’d like to share with you the process that I go through each year to reflect and live more intentionally.

Step One

The first part of my review is a practice called “The Wheel of Life.” Essentially, you draw a circle and split it up into different sections. The sections I typically use for this exercise are business/career, finances, health, family and friends, romance, personal growth, fun and recreation, and physical environment. Then I ask myself “On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied am I with each domain." Once I do that I shade in each section and assess my highest and lowest areas.

After I give a number to each area, I write underneath the circle a few bullet points on the positive and negative aspects of each domain to gain greater clarity and lay out actionable steps to improve my weaknesses and maintain or improve upon my strengths.

Once you complete the wheel, it’s important to schedule blocks in your calendar to review your progress and reassess the domains. I complete this exercise quarterly, but you can decide which time increment works best for you.

Step Two

The second exercise comes from Tim Ferriss and requires you to go through your calendar from the past year, and write down the most energizing and most draining moments in two separate columns. You can write down trips, experiences, people, meetings, or anything else that affected you positively or negatively.

After you write down each experience, go through your positives and write down the top few positive moments from the year. Then, schedule more of these in your calendar for next year! Don’t put this step off because it is not real until you have specific dates and times on the calendar.

And just as importantly, make note of the top draining or negative moments from the year. Avoid these at all costs in the upcoming year. Don’t feel guilted into putting them on your calendar again if you know they are overall a negative experience. If it is something that you can’t avoid, see if you can automate this process. For example, if filing your taxes last year caused you a massive headache, it might be worth spending the money to have someone else do them for you.

Finally, one caveat to this exercise is that the positive experiences don’t need to have a means to an end. I need to remember this one because I struggle at times to validate doing something strictly for fun when my to-do list is full. Life is short. We need to be deliberate in the activities and people we interact with to enjoy our brief time here.

I hope you can use the tips I mentioned above to make 2024 one of your best years yet! And let me know if you have any other self-reflection activities you perform around the New Year.

Until next week,

Kevin