My Annual Reflection & Goal-Setting Method
Newsletter
Weāre two days from book publication date in the US (26th Dec), and four days from book publication date worldwide (28th Dec). Weāre seeing a nice uptick in preorders, so THANK YOU if youāveĀ preorderedĀ the book – it means so much that youād support my work, and I hope youāll get value from the book š
Also, I know this is a weekly newsletter and I try my best to send it out on Sundays. But given that itās book launch week this week, Iād like to send you a few more emails than usual throughout the week, sharing some excerpts from the book, and some extra stuff that was cut out of the book but thatās still good advice regardless. If youād preferĀ notĀ to get these extra emails, pleaseĀ click here to opt out of those extra emailsĀ – youāll just get the next ānormalā issue of Sunday Snippets next weekend.
Anyway, in this weekās email, I wanted to share a method you can use to reflect on 2023, figure out roughly what to do with your life, and set goals for 2024. This is broadly the method weāll be going through live in myĀ Annual Planning Workshop on Jan 6th 2024Ā (1400-1700 GMT). But if for some reason you canāt make the workshop, or if youād like a sneak peak of what weāll be going through, this email should help. Hereās how the method works.
Step 1 – Reflect on 2023
During the event, weāll be going through various structured reflection prompts thatāll help you get clarity on how 2023 went for you, and what you can learn from it to help make 2024 the best year of your life. Youāre very welcome to work through these prompts solo, but I find it much more inspiring and useful to work through them during a dedicated session with other people also doing the same thing, hence why weāll be going through some of these during theĀ Annual Planning Workshop.
- šĀ Major Milestones: What were the 3-5 most significant events or achievements in 2023 for you? How did these impact your life?
- šŖĀ Challenges Overcome: What were the biggest challenges or obstacles you faced in 2023? How did you overcome them, and what did you learn from these experiences?
- š±Ā Growth and Development: In what ways have you grown or changed as a person over the past year? Consider changes in your beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours.
- āĀ Unfulfilled Aspirations: Were there goals or aspirations you had for 2023 that you did not achieve? Reflect on why they were not met and how you feel about it.
- šĀ Surprises: What took you by surprise this year, whether positively or negatively? How did you adapt to these unexpected events or revelations?
- šĀ Gratitude: What are you most grateful for in 2023? Think about people, experiences, or opportunities that enriched your life.
- šāāļøĀ Self-Care and Well-being: How did you take care of your physical, mental, and emotional health in 2023? Were there new habits or practices you adopted?
- š„Ā Relationships and Connections: Reflect on your relationships in 2023. How have they evolved? Were there new relationships that had a significant impact on you?
- šĀ Professional or Academic Growth: How did you progress in your career or studies in 2023? What were the key learnings and how have they shaped your future aspirations?
- šĀ Looking Forward: Based on your experiences in 2023, what would you like to do differently in 2024? Are there new areas youād like to explore or changes you want to make?
Iād recommend writing down your answers to some or all of these prompts (or you can attend the workshop where weāll do it together if youād rather do it with friends). The nice thing about writing these down is that you can then look back on your Annual Planning documents every year – itās a nice way to actually remember your life a little more, and to have a little more gratitude and appreciation for how far youāve come š
Anyway, once weāve done some solid reflecting on 2023, itās time to look forward to 2024 and beyond.
Step 2 – Find your North Star
I like to think of life as a journey. You can choose to go anywhere, but itās useful to identify where your personalĀ North StarĀ is so that you know roughly what direction you want to travel. YourĀ North StarĀ is entirely personal to you, and so we aim to find it through (surprise!) more structured journaling and reflection prompts. Hereās a flavour of some of my favourite prompts to help figure out roughly where my North Star is.
- šĀ The Talent Service Prompt: If you had all the money and time in the world, how would you use your talents to serve others?
- š¤Ā The Future TED Talk Prompt: Youāre attending the TED conference, and everyone in the audience (including you) is deeply moved and inspired by what the speaker is talking about. The speaker is you, 20 years in the future. What is āYou + 20 Yearsā talking about, and whatās so inspiring about it?
- šĀ The Fearless Dream Prompt: What would you like to do, if you knew you couldnāt fail?
- š¤·Ā The Fail-Proof Dream Prompt: What would you like to do, even if you knew youād fail at it?
- š Ā The Ideal Tuesday Prompt: What does your ideal ordinary Tuesday look like? What are you doing? Who are you with? How are you spending your time? What makes this day perfect for you?
- š Ā The Deferred Dream Prompt: Whatās one dream youāve always had but never pursued? Why is it a dream for you? Whatās stopped you from pursuing it?
- šĀ The Role Model Prompt: Who are the people you most admire, and why? What qualities do they possess that you wish to emulate?
- šĀ The Change Maker Prompt: If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be and why? How could you contribute to this change?
- šĀ The Future Self Prompt: Imagine youāve achieved everything youāve ever wanted. How have you changed as a person? What qualities and achievements define this future version of yourself?
- āļøĀ The Obituary Writing Prompt: What do you want your obituary to say? Write it out.
- ā°ļøĀ The Tombstone Message Prompt: What would you like written on your tombstone? It has to be under 280 characters to fit š
As you read these, you might be thinking: āGosh thatās some heavy stuff + I couldnāt even begin to answer some of these + this sounds like a lot of effort + whoās got time for that?!ā
To that, Iād say: yes, it seems like a lot of effort right now. But you already know the answers to all these questions, somewhere inside of you. If youĀ thinkĀ too hard about them, youāll work yourself into knots. But if youĀ don’t think too hardĀ about them, and go with your āgutā or your ābodyā or your āsoulā or whatever non-mind entity youād like, youāll find the answers will come to you a lot more readily.
And the important thing about taking a step back to reflect about this stuff and identifying yourĀ North StarĀ is that it gives you aĀ directionĀ to aim towards. You donāt want to be overly attached to any of your answers, or cling too strongly to this version of your future. But by thinking about where yourĀ North StarĀ is, youāll be able to look at your life right now and ask: āTo what extent is what Iām currently doing aligned with this future that I think I want?ā And depending on your answer to that question, you can choose to make changes if you want.
Again, this stuff can be heavy, which is why doing stuff like this in a group setting, with the right background music, and the right framing beforehand, is super helpful. One of my favourite things to do is to get a group of friends together (for a dinner, or a weekend trip) and lead a group journaling session where we tackle some of these questions (withĀ thisĀ yoga + meditation Spotify playlist in the background). I like to do it every time we have a team retreat, and also did it a few months ago when I hosted a creators retreat for ~15 people in the UK. Everyone, even the 2-3 people who were skeptical at first, got enormous value from the exercises, and left with specific action points for the changes they were going to make in their lives as a result.
So next time youāre hosting friends and want to be a little weird, feel free to use any of these prompts to spark conversation š¤£
Step 3 – Decide on your 2024 Goals
The method here involves (1) divergent thinking to list out a bunch of differentĀ dreamsĀ that you want, or might want, to pursue. And then once youāve done that, (2) convergent thinking to narrow them down to specificĀ goalsĀ youād like to focus on in 2024. Iāll leave it at that for now – weāve already had prompt overload in this email, and I want to save this section as a surprise for the wonderful people attending myĀ Annual Planning Live WorkshopĀ on 6th January.
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Hopefully this email has given you a set of prompts that you can think about and journal about during the holiday period (or at any other time tbh). If youāre doing the prompts on your own, Iād love to see some of your responses – if youād care to share, please reply to this email with your answers to them + Iād love to know which of these prompts in particular resonated for you, and what actions youāre going to take as a result of thinking about this stuff.
Have a great week!
Ali xx
PS: Iām still getting a tonne of emails from people sending me their receipts for preorders directly – clearly Iāve done a poor job in communicating the process, which is a lesson for the next book launch š So if youāve preordered the book (thank you!) please could you submit your receipt / order confirmationĀ HERE. I’ll send links, details etc for the 6th Jan event to everyone on 1st Jan so please keep an eye on your emails for those.
PPS: The live workshop will be recorded and sent out afterwards to everyone who preordered the book, so if you canāt make it live, you can watch it after the fact. Weāll also send all the materials, worksheets, templates etc by email afterwards š
PPPS: You canĀ preorder the book inĀ any formatĀ and itāll count towards the live event tickets – Kindle is fine, Audible is cool, hardback is great, anything goes really š Just send us some sort of receipt that we can verify and itās all good.
PPPPS: If youāre based in the US, and youāre keen on getting the book, but agnostic about hardback vs Kindle vs audible, might I suggest going for theĀ hardback option please – helps us out when it comes to the New York Times bestseller list which cares about hardback sales. But obv, no pressure, means a lot that youād get the book in any format ā¤ļø
ā¤ļø My Favourite Things this Week
- PodcastĀ – I loved listening toĀ this conversation between David Perell and Sahil Bloom. David’sĀ How I WriteĀ podcast is fast becoming one of my favourite interview-type podcasts – even if you’re not a writer, or interested in doing any writing at all in your life, there are some great life lessons in these conversations.
- YouTube VideoĀ – I absolutely loved this video from Philosophy Tube titled:Ā A Man Plagiarised my Work – Women, Money and The Nation. This was my first Philosophy Tube video, and I couldn’t believe the ridiculous amount of research, writing, personality, wit and sheer effort that went into it. I then went on a binge of lots more of her content – I particularlyĀ liked this one about Stoicism, and this one (Identity: A Trans Coming Out Story). Planning to continue my binge of this incredible channel, (a) to learn more about philosophy, (b) to be entertained while doing so, and (c) to get tonnes of inspo about how I can level-up my own videos.
- BookĀ – I’m continuing to re-read and enjoyĀ Waking Up: Spirituality Wthout ReligionĀ by Sam Harris. I first read it during medical school, and didn’t really “get it”, but now that I’ve been dabbling with “spirituality stuff” for a few years, everything Sam’s talking about suddenly makes a lot more sense. And in my new identity as a writer, I also find myself saying “whoahhhh this is really well-written” every few pages. If you’ve been looking for an introduction to spirituality to get a sense of “what’s all the fuss about”, this is a great read.
š¬ My New Videos
šĀ 10 Tips to Actually Read 100 Books in 2024ā
In this video I just wanted to share 10 tips that help me read lots of books, so that you can hopefully hit your reading goals in the new year! Enjoy x
šĀ These 4 Books Can Genuinely Change Your Lifeā
I know it can seem like a lot of books change my life, BUT if you change your behaviour based on an idea you find in a book, that behaviour could literally change your life!
āļø Quote of the Week
āCarving out a space for yourself online, somewhere where you can express yourself and share your work, is still one of the best possible investments you can make with your time.ā
FromĀ Show Your Work! : 10 Things Nobody Told You About Getting DiscoveredĀ ā Austin Kleon. Resurfaced usingĀ Readwise.