The Startup Ideas Podcast
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Personal Annual Review Framework
A seven-question structured reflection process to extract maximum learning from the past year and arm yourself for the year ahead by mining your own experiences for actionable insights.
How It Works
Uses your calendar as primary data source to trigger specific memories and patterns. Each question targets a different aspect of performance and decision-making, from mindset changes to energy patterns to fear-based inaction.
Components
Question 1: What did I change my mind on this year? (2-3 key mental model updates)
Question 2: What created energy this year? (Professional, personal, people)
Question 3: What drained energy this year? (Professional, personal, people)
Question 4: What were the boat anchors in my life? (Mindsets, behaviors, people holding you back)
Question 5: What did I not do because of fear? (Fear setting exercise)
Question 6: What were your greatest hits and worst misses? (Why did hits hit, misses miss)
Question 7: What did I learn this year? (3-10 core learnings to carry forward)
When to Use
End of year or beginning of new year when you want to do serious reflection rather than just goal setting. Best done when you have 2-3 hours of uninterrupted time and access to your calendar from the past year.
When Not to Use
When you're in crisis mode, when you don't have access to your historical data, or when you're not ready for potentially uncomfortable self-reflection that requires ego destruction.
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
Example
“An entrepreneur at year-end realizes through calendar review that they changed their mind about achievement not mattering (it actually does for profound goals), identifies that back-to-back Zoom calls drain energy while writing creates it, discovers their boat anchor is the 'strong one complex' of carrying emotional weight alone, and learns they didn't launch a side project due to fear of giving 100% and failing.”