Year-end self-review
For: Anyone closing the year — solo reflection, or shared with a manager / coach / partner
A year of work in 15 questions. Your output, what you became, your energy, the rest of your life — and what you intend for the next year. Honest, not heroic.
- 15 questions
- 5 dimensions
- ~12-15 min
- Self · Peer · Both
Year-end reviews almost always degrade in one of two directions: either the corporate version — what you accomplished against your goals, what your manager wants to hear — or the personal version — vague resolutions about being more focused next year. Both miss most of the actual signal. The honest year-in-review covers five dimensions: what you delivered, what you became, where your energy is, what role work played in the rest of your life, and what you genuinely intend for the next twelve months. This template runs all five in 15 questions. The deepest of Mirorly's annual cadence templates; designed for one careful sitting, not a quick scroll.
How it works
Block 30 minutes somewhere in late December or early January — quiet, undisturbed, ideally with a year-end pause already in motion. Run on yourself first. If you want a cross-view, send to your manager (or coach, or partner) — but only after you've answered honestly yourself, otherwise the form drifts toward what they'll think.
What's inside — 15 questions across 5 dimensions
What you accomplished
output, outcomes, deliveries
What you learned & became
growth, identity, capability
Energy & sustainability
pace, recovery, motivation across the year
Relationships & life beyond work
the role work played in the broader picture
The year ahead
what changes, what continues, what intent
The questions, in full
Every question is included below. You answer them yourself first, then send the same set to the people who've seen you work.
What you accomplished
- Q1Rating (1-5)
Looking at what I delivered this year, I can name 1-3 things that were genuinely meaningful — not just busy work.
- Q2Multiple choice
Compared to what I set out to do at the start of the year, the year delivered...
- — More than I expected
- — Roughly what I expected
- — Less than I hoped, but for understandable reasons
- — Significantly less
- — The year went somewhere I didn't expect at the start
- Q3Open answer
What's one thing you delivered this year that you're genuinely proud of — and one thing you let slip that you wish you hadn't?
What you learned & became
- Q4Rating (1-5)
I'm noticeably better at something now than I was 12 months ago — and I can point to what.
- Q5Rating (1-5)
Something has shifted in how I think about myself or my work — not just in what I do.
- Q6Open answer
What's the most important thing you learned this year — and what made it land instead of bouncing off?
Energy & sustainability
- Q7Rating (1-5)
I'm ending the year with energy left — not running on fumes from October onwards.
- Q8Rating (1-5)
I had real recovery this year — actual time off, presence outside work, evenings and weekends that weren't all stolen.
- Q9Rating (1-5)
I'm engaged with my work — it still matters to me, not just on autopilot.
Relationships & life beyond work
- Q10Rating (1-5)
The relationships that matter most to me — partner, family, close friends — are stronger now than they were at the start of the year.
- Q11Rating (1-5)
Work didn't eat the parts of life I most care about this year.
- Q12Open answer
What did the people closest to you experience this year, watching you live this version of your life?
The year ahead
- Q13Rating (1-5)
I have 1-3 specific intentions for next year — not a long list of resolutions that won't survive February.
- Q14Multiple choice
Looking at next year, the biggest shift I want to make is...
- — Doing more of what worked this year
- — Letting go of things that drained me
- — Changing how I work — pace, focus, habits
- — Starting something genuinely new
- — Mostly steady — same direction, deeper execution
- Q15Open answer
If you imagine yourself a year from now looking back on the next 12 months, what would have to be true for you to say it was a good year?
The research behind these questions
Drawn from Stew Friedman's Total Leadership (Wharton) on integrating life domains rather than balancing them; Daniel Pink's When (Wharton) on annual rhythms and end-of-year cognitive shifts; Atul Gawande's Better on honest accounting in professional practice; Marshall Goldsmith's Triggers on the mechanics of intentional change; Daniel Kahneman's research on the gap between the experiencing self and the remembering self (Thinking, Fast and Slow); Bronnie Ware's longitudinal hospice work on what people regret about how they spent their lives (The Top Five Regrets of the Dying); Robert Waldinger's research from the Harvard Study of Adult Development on what predicts wellbeing across decades; and BJ Fogg's Tiny Habits (Stanford) on intentions small enough to actually happen. Each question targets a specific signal across the year — and the format is deliberately structured to make the reflective time productive rather than performative.
References
- — Stew Friedman — Total Leadership (Wharton)
- — Daniel Pink — When
- — Atul Gawande — Better
- — Marshall Goldsmith — Triggers
- — Daniel Kahneman — Thinking, Fast and Slow
- — Bronnie Ware — The Top Five Regrets of the Dying
- — Robert Waldinger — Harvard Study of Adult Development
- — BJ Fogg — Tiny Habits (Stanford Behavior Design Lab)
Ready to run this round on yourself?
Sign up, pick this template, answer it about yourself, and send the same questions to the people who've been in the room with you. The gap between your view and theirs is where the actual learning lives.