Effective Personal Annual Retrospective

A lot of planning, but very little reflection: Many people have the tradition of setting New Year's resolutions and outlining fresh goals, eagerly anticipating the opportunities of the upcoming year. While this is exciting, much is lost when we don't first reflect before diving into a new planning cycle. In the pursuit of personal and professional growth, taking the time to pause and assess the good and bad from what already happened the past 365 days provides invaluable insights that serve as a guide for crafting more realistically attainable goals.

Do you want to be Agile? In Agile Product Development Planning, it is common to run retrospectives after the completion of each iteration of work ("Sprints"). This allows teams to collectively review their recent work, evaluating what went well, what needs improvement, and celebrating achievements. This methodology is starting to be used in teams outside of product development, and you can also use it when planning your Personal Goals. Instead of rigid resolutions (the "hit or miss" approach), you can promote a mindset of continuity in your goals, a sense of continuous improvement.

The big productivity gurus do this. In case you needed any validation, Tim Ferriss recommends replacing traditional New Year's resolutions with a "Past Year Review" (PYR) for a more informed and actionable approach, listing weekly positive and negative experiences. Then, identify the top and bottom 20%, and schedule more positive activities and avoid the negative ones. Ferriss emphasizes filling life with positive experiences promptly, preventing them from being overshadowed by unnecessary distractions. James Clear also conducts an Annual Review were he asks himself three questions: What went well this year? What didn't go so well this year? What did I learn?

My recommendation: Do a Personal Retrospective. It takes 52 minutes to complete, and however long you want to reflect on it:

1. Open your Calendar, your Photo App, and create a table in Excel with the following columns: "Weeks" (And create 52 rows), "High," and "Low."

2. Perform a 1-minute audit per week of your calendar and photos: Write down the positives (our personal positives usually come with photos), and write down the negatives.

3. Read all positives and celebrate your wins: Tell your friends and family what you found (share your favorite photos). Give yourself a pat on the back. Write down what are the common themes from the positives.

4. Reflect on the negatives: Think about the common themes from your negatives.

5. Continuously improve: Reflect on the common themes for things you deem "positive" and "negative". When you plan your upcoming yearly goals (next week's post will have more details), think how you can plan more positives ahead of time, eliminate some negatives, and set more realistic goals. [Some of my personal examples below].

Look back to learn how to look forward,

Jorge Luis Pando

"The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see." - Winston Churchill

PS: Sharing some of the common themes from my 2022 retrospective that I tried to do more of (or change/improve) during 2023. I am looking forward to this year’s retro:

• Highs:

  • Donating unused clothes

  • Dedicating my time to help others 1:1

  • Watching a sporting event with my kid instead of friends

  • Making funny (private) TikToks mocking myself and family

  • Attending Concerts

• Lows (and learning):

  • Flies and bugs around my house stress me out (I’m trying)

  • Horrible experiences at airports (need to avoid LAX as much as possible)

  • Owning a property where I don't currently live consumes a lot of time (sell it).