As the year draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on what you have accomplished over the past twelve months. Recognising wins and challenges, and what you have learnt, will help you to move forward into the new year with intention and purpose. I’m sharing some end-of-year-reflection questions that will help with your yearly bullet journal reflection, plus some tips on preparing for a new year, and moving into your new notebook!
Yearly Bullet Journal Reflection Questions
The questions I will be asking myself, as I reflect on my year, are similar to those I use to reflect at the end of every month. Below are some questions to ask yourself that will help you reflect on your year:
- What were my top ten highlights from this past year?
- What were five things I achieved this past year? How did they make me feel?
- What were three challenges I came up against this past year? How did I overcome them?
- Who, or what, am I truly grateful for?
- What are the five biggest lessons I learnt this past year?
- How have I developed or changed as a person?
- What am I most proud of?
- Have I stayed true to my values?
- What would I like to improve on as I move into next year? How will I take action?
How to Complete Your End-Of-Year Bullet Journal Reflection
Choose a time when you are least likely to be distracted. By giving the task your full attention and staying present in the moment, you will be able to explore your feelings more deeply. Write your answers to the above questions in your journal, but don’t worry too much about page layout or decoration – answering the questions is the most important part!
After answering the questions you will have a clearer picture of how you spent your time over the past twelve months, how it made you feel, and what you achieved. Use your answers to guide you in planning the upcoming year – when setting new goals, making decisions, establishing new rituals, or changing habits.
Checking In With Your Values
Knowing what you value most in life is so important when it comes to planning with purpose and intention. When you know what matters most to you, you know where to direct your focus and what to spend your time on. When you reflect on the past year, ask yourself if you are happy with where your focus has been, and the goals you have achieved. If not, take action now to start making changes. What can you do this coming year that will help you achieve the goals that will have a positive impact on your life?
Bullet Journal Review And Migration
Whether you’re moving into a new notebook at the end of the year, or just setting up a new month, task review and migration can be combined with personal end-of-year reflection. Look at your last Monthly Log page (or the whole year’s Monthly Logs if you haven’t reviewed on a regular basis) for any unresolved tasks or goals. You can also review your Daily Log entries.
If any of these unresolved tasks have been completed, turn the open bullet point into an ‘X’.
For tasks that are incomplete, take one of the following actions:
- Strike out the task if it is no longer important.
- If the task still needs attention, move it into your new Monthly Log. Turn the bullet point into a ‘>’ to signify it has been migrated.
- If the task needs to be completed sometime in the future, turn the bullet point into a ‘<‘ and rewrite the task in your new Future Log.
Also, review your Future Log and move any relevant tasks into your new Monthly Log.
It does take some effort to rewrite tasks over and over, but it’s a process that makes you stop and think about how important a task really is. It’s a great way to stay focused on what really matters.
Combining task review and migration with your personal reflection will make it easier to decide which unresolved tasks to migrate, and which are no longer important.
Reviewing and ‘Collecting’ Notes
Along with tasks and goals, I also review notes I have written in my journal. These entries are marked with a dash (-) in my Daily Log. If necessary, I group the notes according to topics or themes and turn them into collections.
Updating Your Bullet Journal Index
Do you sometimes forget to index collections or important pages in your bullet journal? At the end of the year (or before you start a new notebook) review your pages and ensure everything important has been indexed. This will help you to find the information later.
Completing a yearly bullet journal reflection, and reviewing and migrating tasks, is important for staying on purpose. It will help you start the new year (or new notebook) with intention. Enjoy the process of yearly bullet journal reflection. Set new purposeful goals, and celebrate all your achievements no matter how small!
