How Was 2024 For You?
Before we start thinking about 2025, it’s crucial to reflect on our wins, our lessons, and the moments that tested our grit.
Did you crush your goals? Yes! Or perhaps you realised some weren’t worth chasing after all? Maybe you had breakthroughs in client relationships, leadership, or personal resilience. Whatever the case, a review isn’t about dwelling on failure —it’s about learning.
The beauty of reflection is that it reconnects us with our "why." Why we started, why we persevered, and why we’re committed to pushing forward.
The Power of Pausing to Reflect
When we're constantly busy chasing the next milestone, we rarely stop to assess whether we're headed in the right direction. Reflection ensures we're running towards the right goals—not just running for the sake of it.
It's about evaluating what truly matters and letting go of the “noise” that distracts us from our core values (yep my monkey brain!).
Resources for Powerful Year-End Reflection
If you’re not sure where to begin, several reflection frameworks can guide you. Here are three tried-and-tested ones that will give you clarity and structure.
1. James Clear's Annual Review
James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, suggests approaching reflection with three simple questions:
What went well this year?
What didn’t go so well this year?
What am I working toward?
This minimalistic approach avoids overwhelming you with excessive complexity, making it perfect if you’re new to annual reviews. By honing in on these questions, you can clearly identify your strengths, weaknesses, and areas for growth.
2. Ness Labs' Year in Review Template
I joined Ness Lab's Year in Review Workshop in 2023. Anne-Laure Le Cunff template goes beyond professional goals by encouraging a holistic approach. It covers 12 life areas, including health, relationships, creativity, and more, ensuring you’re reflecting on every dimension of your life.
Think of it as a "Wheel of Life Assessment." Some key areas include:
Health & Fitness
Work & Business
Money & Finance
Hobbies & Creativity
Friends & Community
Exploring these aspects allows a more balanced review, helping you avoid burnout or tunnel vision for the year ahead.
3. Dickie Bush & Nicolas Cole's Yearly Review Framework
If you’re active on LinkedIn or part of the Ship30for30 community, you may have seen Dickie Bush and Nicolas Cole’s framework. It emphasises turning reflections into actionable insights by breaking down what happened during the year into patterns.
Personally this framework is perfect for me as I can translate annual learnings into shareable stories or micro-strategies.
Check out their template via Notion here: Link to framework.
Why Annual Reviews Matter for 2025
Reflecting on 2024 is only as good as what you do with it. Annual reviews aren’t just a tool for looking back—they’re the ultimate springboard for clear and actionable goals in the year ahead.
How Reflection Guides Goal-Setting
Without reflection, goal-setting for 2025 risks being arbitrary. Annual reviews help us pinpoint what truly deserves our focus for the year ahead by identifying patterns. Here’s how reflecting can transform your approach:
Reinforce What Works: Double down on strategies and habits that showed results. Did a new sales tactic lead to better conversions? Did attending networking events boost your client base? These aren’t accidents—repeat them.
Eliminate the Noise: Recognise what didn’t work and drop it. For example, if juggling too many side projects drained your energy, streamline and focus. One of my clients decided to let go of smaller accounts after realising they lacked the bandwidth to properly focus on their most strategic and valuable clients.
Center Purpose: Reflection reminds us of WHY we do what we do, ensuring our goals are meaningful, not just "busy work."
Personal Insights from Reflecting
From personal experience, writing yearly reviews always humbles me. They’ve made me more grateful and brought greater happiness into my life. At the start of 2024, I shared 13 insights that I hope inspired many—if not, at the very least, entertained them. 😎
Here’s a snippet, and you can explore the full post here.
📚My books for the summer
I am looking forward to read under the New Zealand summer sun in the beach and enjoy a nice mix of both fiction and non-fiction works, covering topics from neuroscience, self-improvement and some fun reading.
Here are my list:
Meditations for the Mortals by Oliver Burkeman A new work by Burkeman, I really enjoyed his "4000 Weeks", I realised how short our life span is and it made me realised to enjoy the present and the process more and not live in the future or the past. Burkeman is known for exploring themes of time, mortality, and human existence.
The Neuroscience of Self-love A very easy read non-fiction book that explores the scientific aspects of self-love and how our brains process and influence self-perception. You want to know how to turn bad days into good days? This is your book!
Save your Brain by Dr. Mansberg A book focused on brain health and preservation, insights and strategies for maintaining cognitive function.
The Restaurant of Lost Recipes A Japanese novel translated into English that explores themes of culinary heritage and how food intertwines with our memories.
The Trunk Very intriguing fiction story, I actually started watching the adapted Netflix series!
Exhalation A super cool mix of sci-fi and fantasy short stories. It's got all these wild ideas about what it means to be human, how tech shapes our lives, and the mysteries of consciousness - all wrapped up in some really fun and creative storylines— it’s ind blowing how it can be real soon.
What's your reading list? Let me know if you have a really awesome book you enjoyed.
🎁Secure Your Early Access for 2025
Remember the surprise I mentioned?
I'm excited to share that I'm creating a B2B Sales Digital Resource Hub packed with frameworks, templates, sales scripts, quick how-to videos, webinars and powerful AI tools—specifically designed to help you achieve your sales goals in 2025.
Learn at your own pace or quickly access resources whenever you need them, from negotiation techniques to prospecting email templates and sales proposals.
Best of all? As my valued email subscribers, you’ll enjoy free access for an entire year.
Doors open in January! 🎉 Want in? Confirm your spot by December 31st to enjoy 12 months of free access. Don’t miss out!
❤️Thank you for being part of my 2024
Thank you for your awesome feedback, thoughtful questions, inspiring success stories, and even for just reaching out to say hello!
I wish you and your loved ones a lovely holiday season filled with joy, rest, and wonderful memories. Here's to making 2025 your best year yet! 🎄✨
I’ll see you in two weeks!
Ren
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