Quick Announcement:
I am hosting a 2-day retreat in the Nashville area in the first couple of weeks of January 2026. We’re going to hit the reset button after a wonky 2025!
We’ll be taking the time to reflect, relax, and plan 2026 with intention and a calm nervous system.
Nature, movement, mindfulness, good food, good people. It’s gonna be rad.
I sent this announcement out to my email list first and most of the spots are spoken for. If you want to join us, just hit reply and let me know. Details on location, cost, and dates coming asap.
I have an interesting relationship with quantifying personal development. There are seasons of my life when I wear a Whoop to measure biometrics, step on a scale daily, use a combination of my Garmin watch, HR chest straps, and other devices to track workouts. Then I use My Fitness Pal to keep track of calories burned and consumed.
I have a daily journaling practice where I take note of things done well in the previous 24 hours. And of course, things I might need to make amends for if I acted in a way that’s out of alignment with my values (like an asshole).
Then there are seasons of my life where I capture behaviors and moods/mindsets in my journal and I couldn’t care less what my resting heart rate or body fat % is.
I find both of these seasons helpful as long as I can stay out of judgement about either! It’s easy to say one season is lazy and the other is OCD.
But, I do know that it’s easier to make decisions about my health, business, relationships, etc when I have actual data to refer to. If I’m trying to make big decisions about these areas of my life based on how I’m feeling at any given moment, I’m setting myself up for confusion and frustration.
In order to have data points to make decisions, we have to incorporate reflection as a regular part of daily life. I do this with my journaling practice, and an assortment of devices and apps, but you can find both a method and a rhythm that work for you.
Zoom out, and this same idea applies at the end of a year.
We all know that New Years Resolutions rarely work long-term for anyone, but what does work for millions of people is being intentional about taking time at the end of each year to reflect on the previous year.
If we can do this with a clear mind, avoiding the tendency to judge things done well and things done poorly, we can walk away with clarity about what we might want the future to look like.
Writing Prompts for Reviewing the Previous Year:
- Where did you feel the most energy? What were you doing? Who were you around? How were you living during that period?
- Where did you feel the lowest energy? What were you doing? Who were you around? How were you living during that period?
- What challenges or detours turned out to carry hidden gifts, lessons, or redirections?
- What seeds did I plant this year — ideas, relationships, habits — even if they haven’t sprouted yet?
- What kind of soil (conditions, environment, mindset) helped or hindered them?
These are just a few. Feel free to make them your own. Feel free to search for more or ask someone close to you to gift you a few prompts. Remember, we want to keep a clear mind during reflection. This is not about giving ourselves ammunition to shoot ourselves in the foot with!
Once you’ve done some proper reflection, you should be able to see a few things you’d like to do more or less of in the following year. This is how reflection leads to intelligent and data driven planning.
If you have other journal prompts or processes you’d like to share, please hit reply. I read em all y’all!
Your turn: design a year end practice that works for you in your context. Gathering data with a little less judgment and a lot more curiosity might make this the best New Year you’ve had in a long time.