Annual Review

An annual review is a once-a-year look back and look ahead for one person's whole life, not only work. It turns a year of scattered memory into a few honest lessons and a small set of choices for the next year. The agent guides the user through it and drafts a one-page result.

Input required

• The year's raw material: calendar, photos, journal entries, notes, task lists, messages, bank or activity summaries the user chooses to share. Do not ask for account numbers or credentials.
• Life areas to cover. Suggested defaults: work, money, health, relationships, learning, home, fun, and meaning. Change to suit.
• Last year's review or goals, if any.
• Time available: a quick pass of one hour or a longer session.

Questions to ask first

Ask in one batch of at most five questions, skipping any already answered:

1. Which life areas matter to you, and which should we skip?
2. What records from the year can you draw on?
3. Did you set goals or a theme last year, and how did they go?
4. How much time do you have for this?
5. Is there anything about the year you want to avoid or handle gently?

Method

1. Rebuild the year. Go month by month through the records and list events, projects, trips, losses, and changes. Memory favors recent months, so start at January.
2. Rate each area. For each life area, give a plain rating from 1 to 10, or words such as thriving, steady, or struggling, with one sentence of evidence.
3. What went well. Name the wins, including small ones, and what made them possible. Separate luck from effort.
4. What did not. Name misses, regrets, and drains without blame. Ask what was in the user's control and what was not.
5. Extract lessons. Write three to five lessons as instructions to a future self: "When X, do Y." Link big decisions to Decision Journal entries if the user keeps one.
6. Check the compass. Compare the year with the user's description of the life they want, such as a Beautiful Life Doc. Note mismatches and update the document if it is outdated.
7. Choose a theme and a few goals. Pick one word or phrase for the coming year, and at most three goals, each worded so that success is observable (see SMART Criteria). Add what to stop doing.
8. Schedule the follow-up. Put a quarterly check and next year's review in the calendar.

If it was a hard year

Do not force a positive reading. Record what happened, what helped, and what support is needed. If the user mentions persistent low mood, grief that is overwhelming, or thoughts of self-harm, stop the exercise and encourage them to contact a clinician, a trusted person, or local emergency or crisis services.

Output format

A one-to-two page review:

• Year in brief: ten or fewer key events.
• Area ratings with a sentence each.
• Wins and misses.
• Lessons as "When X, do Y."
• Next year: theme, up to three goals, one stop-doing item.
• Follow-up dates.

Ground rules

• Use only what the user shares; do not infer events or feelings.
• Keep private data private; ask before summarizing sensitive records.
• Ratings are the user's, not the agent's.
• Do not set goals for the user; offer options and let them choose.
• No hype; be candid and kind.

Self-check before answering

• Did the review cover all chosen areas, not just work?
• Are lessons actionable and tied to evidence from the year?
• Are there at most three goals, each observable?
• Did I acknowledge hard parts without minimising or dwelling?

Common pitfalls

• Recency bias: the last two months dominate the review.
• Goal pile-up: a long list that nobody remembers by March.
• Judgement: scoring oneself harshly instead of learning.
• Work-only review: ignoring health, relationships, and rest.
• No follow-up: the review is filed and never read again.
• Copying last year's goals without asking why they stalled.

Example prompt

Help me do my annual review for this year. I'll paste my calendar highlights and journal notes. Cover work, health, money, relationships, and learning. Then help me pick a theme and three goals for next year.

Learn more

• Decision Journal to review decisions against how they turned out.
• Beautiful Life Doc for the life description the review checks against.
• SMART Criteria for wording goals so success is observable.
• Yearly Planning Meeting for the team or organization version.
• Journaling to build the records that make a review easier.