An end of year reflection is a short, guided review of your year: your highlights, the lessons, the people who mattered, a few numbers, and one or two intentions for next year. Use the template below in a notebook or notes app. Plan about 45 minutes, or split it across a few evenings.
This review has five parts. Each one builds on the last, so do them in order:
Highlights: what went well.
Lessons: what was hard and what it taught you.
People: who shaped your year.
Numbers: a few counts that tell your year's story.
Intentions: one or two things to carry into next year.
Before you start, gather your memory aids: your calendar, your phone's photos, and any journal or notes from the year. They make it much easier to remember the details.
This part borrows from the Three Good Things practice on Greater Good in Action, a practice site from UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center. The daily version asks you to write down things that went well and explain why. It notes that writing them down can be more helpful than just thinking about them. For a year review, pick your top five moments, and for each one write:
A short title, like "Finished my first 10K" or "Sunday dinners with Mom".
What happened, in a few sentences.
How it felt at the time, and how it feels now.
Why you think it happened. What did you, or others, do to make it possible?
Now the harder part. Keep the tone curious rather than critical, and answer:
What was the hardest thing that happened this year?
What helped me get through it?
What did I try that didn't work, and what would I do differently?
What did I learn about myself?
What am I ready to let go of?
Try writing each lesson as one sentence that starts with "Next time, I will...". It turns regret into something you can use.
List the people who made your year better, the ones you grew closer to, and anyone you lost touch with but miss. Then pick one person to thank properly.
Greater Good in Action's Gratitude Letter practice suggests writing directly to the person ("Dear..."), describing in specific terms what they did and how it affected your life, and ideally reading it to them in person, or by phone or video if distance gets in the way. In the study it cites, this gave the biggest boost to happiness one month later among five exercises tested, though the effect had faded by six months. That is a good reason to thank people more than once a year.
A few numbers can jog your memory and show patterns. Choose the ones that matter to you, for example:
Books read, films watched or concerts seen.
New places visited.
Times you saw close friends or family.
Days you exercised, walked or got outside.
Money saved or debt paid down.
New recipes cooked or skills tried.
Numbers are clues, not a grade. If a count surprises you, ask why, then move on.
Keep this part short. One or two intentions are much easier to remember than ten. To make one stick, try WOOP: name your Wish, picture the best Outcome, identify the Obstacle inside yourself that usually gets in the way, and make a Plan for what you will do when it shows up. The WOOP site describes it as a science-based mental strategy built on twenty years of research into motivation.
Copy this template into a notebook or notes app and fill it in.
My year in review: [year]
One word for this year:
Top five highlights (title, what happened, why it happened):
Hardest moment, and what got me through:
Three lessons, each starting with "Next time, I will...":
People who made my year better:
One person I will thank, and how:
My numbers (pick three to five):
Something I am letting go of:
Intention 1 (Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan):
Intention 2 (optional):
One word for next year:
Example of a filled-in line: "Intention 1. Wish: cook at home more. Outcome: calmer evenings and less takeout. Obstacle: I'm too tired to decide what to make after work. Plan: when I do my weekend shopping, I'll pick three dinners for the week."
Pick the same window each year, such as the quiet days between the holidays.
Read last year's review before you write this year's.
Keep all your reviews together so you can see how you have changed.
Invite a partner or friend to do theirs at the same time, then share only what you want to.
If gratitude is your favorite part, these gratitude journal prompts keep it going all year. You can also close your review with a letter to your future self.
Any time in the last few weeks of December or the first week of January works. Pick a quiet window when you won't be rushed.
About 45 minutes for the template above. You can also do one part per evening across a week.
Scroll your calendar and photos month by month. They usually bring back more than you expect.
Only if you want to. It is most useful when you can be completely honest, so keep the full version private and share highlights if you like.
Dear You: Daily Letters can keep your year review in a searchable private library on your iPhone, with Personal Chapters to organize entries by life season and PDF export if you want a copy. You can also seal a letter to open next December, or up to five years ahead. It is free with optional Dear You Plus purchases and has no account or ads.
Get Dear You free on the App Store