End of year reflection questions: 60 ways to look back before you look ahead

Most years feel shorter at the end than they were. The months blur, and the things that mattered get lost behind the last few busy weeks. An end-of-year reflection brings them back before you start planning the next one.

End of year reflection questions help you look back on the year before you plan the next: your highlights, what you learned, who mattered, what you’d do differently and what to leave behind. Start with the guided year-in-review below (about 30 minutes), then use the 60 questions to go deeper on any part of the year.

Your year in review

Nine questions, one at a time. Write a few lines for each, then copy or download the whole thing.

1. 1Flip back
2. 2Highlights
3. 3Hard parts
4. 4Proud of
5. 5Learned
6. 6People
7. 7Leave behind
8. 8Carry forward
9. 9One word

Step 1 of 9 · Flip back

Look through your calendar, photos or notebook. What happened this year, month by month?

One line per month is enough. Anything you can remember.

Next

Nothing you write here is stored or sent. Copy or download it before you close the page.

Quick takeaways

• Reflect before you set goals. Last year is the best evidence you have.
• Flip back through your calendar, photos or journal first. Memory needs prompting.
• Give the hard parts a page, not just the highlights.
• Write down what you want to leave behind as well as what to carry forward.
• Thirty minutes is enough. A whole afternoon is lovely if you have it.

Why reflect at the end of the year?

Looking back helps you learn from experience instead of just moving past it. In a study at a call center, workers who spent 15 minutes at the end of each day writing about what they’d learned performed 22.8% better on a final training test than those who didn’t. A year-end review applies the same idea to a whole year.

That study, by Giada Di Stefano, Francesca Gino, Gary Pisano and Bradley Staats, is summarized by Harvard Business School. It was about daily reflection on work, not an annual review, so treat it as a reason to reflect rather than a promise. The practical point holds: writing down what you learned makes it easier to use.

The end of the year is also a natural pause: the calendar is about to reset, and a year that’s nearly over is easier to see whole.

Questions about the year’s highlights

Start with the good parts. These questions help you remember what went well, including the small moments that are easy to forget by December.

1. What were the three best days of the year?
2. What surprised you, in a good way?
3. What did you do for the first time?
4. Where did you go that you’d like to go back to?
5. What made you laugh the most?
6. What was the best thing you read, watched or listened to?
7. What small routine made your days better?
8. What photo from this year would you frame?
9. When did you feel most like yourself?
10. What are you proud of that nobody else noticed?

Questions about what you learned

These questions turn the year into lessons. Answer in full sentences if you can; “I learned that…” is more useful next year than a single word.

11. What did this year teach you about yourself?
12. What mistake taught you the most?
13. What did you change your mind about?
14. What skill did you get better at?
15. What advice would you give yourself on January 1 of this year?
16. What do you know now that you didn’t a year ago?
17. What turned out to matter less than you thought?
18. What turned out to matter more?
19. What would you do differently if you had this year again?
20. What pattern did you notice in yourself this year?

Questions about people and relationships

The people in your year shape it more than any plan. These questions look at who you spent time with, who you missed and who you’d like to thank.

21. Who made your year better?
22. Who did you get closer to?
23. Who did you drift away from, and how do you feel about it?
24. Who would you like to thank, and for what?
25. Who did you help this year?
26. Who do you want to see more of next year?
27. What conversation are you glad you had?
28. What conversation are you still waiting to have?

If there’s something you didn’t get to say to someone, an unsent letter is a way to write it down without sending it.

Questions about work, study and goals

These questions cover what you did with your time: work, study, projects and the goals you set last January. Look at what you achieved and what you let go of, without judging either.

29. What goals did you set at the start of the year? What happened to them?
30. What did you finish that you’re glad you finished?
31. What did you start that you want to keep going?
32. What did you quit, and was it the right call?
33. When did work or study feel easy, and when did it feel heavy?
34. What would make next year’s work more satisfying?
35. What did you spend too much time on?
36. What deserved more of your time?

Questions about habits, health and rest

These questions look at how you looked after yourself: sleep, movement, food, rest and the habits you built or dropped. Notice the patterns without turning them into a to-do list yet.

37. Which habit made the biggest difference this year?
38. Which habit would you like to drop?
39. When did you feel most rested?
40. What helped you on hard days?
41. How did you move your body, and what did you enjoy?
42. What did you do just for fun?
43. When did you feel overwhelmed, and what helped?
44. What does looking after yourself look like for you now?

Questions about letting go

Letting go is part of closing a year. These questions help you name what you don’t want to carry into the next one: worries, grudges, habits and plans that no longer fit.

45. What are you ready to leave behind in this year?
46. What worry did you carry that never happened?
47. What are you still angry about, and do you want to keep it?
48. What would you forgive yourself for?
49. What expectation could you let go of?
50. What plan no longer fits the person you are now?
51. What would you like to stop apologizing for?

Questions to carry into the new year

End by turning toward the next year. These questions are not resolutions; they’re about what you want to keep, change and feel.

52. What do you want to carry into next year?
53. What do you want more of?
54. What do you want less of?
55. How do you want next year to feel?
56. What is one thing you’d like to try for the first time?
57. What would make next December’s reflection a happy one?
58. What word would you like to describe next year?
59. What’s one small step you could take in the first week of January?
60. Write a short note to yourself to read next December.

Once you’ve looked back, the new year journal prompts help you set intentions for the year ahead.

How do you do an end of year reflection?

Set aside 30 minutes to an afternoon. Flip back through your calendar, photos or journal to remind yourself what happened, then answer a few questions from each group. Finish with what you want to leave behind and carry forward, and keep your answers somewhere you’ll find next December.

1. Gather your year. Calendar, photos, notebooks, messages.
2. Go month by month. One line per month, in order.
3. Answer a few questions from each group. You don’t need all 60.
4. Name what to leave and what to keep.
5. Save it. Keep your answers in your journal or a dated file to reread next year.

If you keep a reflective journal, a year-end review is the same process on a bigger scale. For a daily habit that makes next year’s review easier, a one line a day journal gives you one sentence for every date. More question sets are in the journal prompts hub.

End of year reflection questions

What are good end of year reflection questions?

Good questions cover highlights, lessons, people, work, habits and what to leave behind. For example: “What were the three best days of the year?”, “What did this year teach you?” and “What are you ready to leave behind?”

When should I do an end of year reflection?

Any time in the last few weeks of December or the first week of January. Choose a quiet day, before you start setting goals for the new year.

How long does an end of year reflection take?

About 30 minutes for the guided review above. Allow an afternoon if you want to go through all 60 questions.

Can I do an end of year reflection with my family or team?

Yes. Pick five or six questions, give everyone a few minutes to write, then share answers. Highlights and “what I learned” questions work well in groups.

What should I do with my answers?

Keep them. Reread them next December before you do your next review. It’s a quick way to see how much has changed in a year.