I’ve been doing annual reviews for… years. Reflection is normally something I struggle with so I find the practice of taking the end of the year to sit down and evaluate what’s happened to be really helpful and refreshing.
It’s important to celebrate and acknowledge what’s gone well—something I’m kind of terrible at but always trying to improve—and it’s a great way to start off the new year with a guiding direction and focus.
While traditional planners have always felt too strict to be realistic, I’ve found deciding on a specific focus or theme for the year can be especially valuable. Even if I’m not going to stick to some rigid plan once the year starts, that time in planning and brainstorming and considering is not wasted.
It’s extremely helpful taking a moment to reflect and decide, rather than just running with wherever the vibes take me. (not that I’m anti-vibes—ADHD vibes are in a class of their own!)
Last year I designed and launched the Plan Your Extra Focus Year workbook so you can have your own annual review too!
In the workbook, I introduce the SPARK model, a unique framework guiding you through 🌟 Spotlight, 🔍 Prioritize, 💭 Aspire, 🗺️ Roadmap, and 💪 Keep Going – each step a conversation with yourself to foster introspection and practical planning.
🌟 Spotlight
🔍 Prioritize
💭 Aspire
🗺️ Roadmap
💪 Keep Going
I’ve taken some of the feedback I got last year to heart and made a few specific tweaks for this year:
Added Quarterly Review sections for evaluating throughout the year from a birds-eye view
Added much more writing space in most sections so you won’t run out of space
Increased font-size for improved legibility
Lots of small design tweaks and improvements throughout
In fact, with these changes in place, the Plan Your Extra Focus Year 2025 workbook is now over 90 pages!
Here’s how you can download your copy of the Plan Your Extra Focus Year 2024 workbook:
Paid supporters:
Thank you so much for being a supporter! 💙
Simply scroll to the end of this email to find your download link. ⤵️
Everyone else (2 options):
Become a paid supporter to unlock the download link in this post
OR
Procrastinators Live Workshop
Like last year, I’m planning to host a live workshop where we’ll walk through the workbook together and body-double as we work on our plan for the upcoming year. Instead of trying to cram it into the craziness of December, I’m calling it the “Procrastinators Workshop” because we’ll be doing it in late January.
Specific time/date yet to be determined, but paid supporters will get an invite in the next week or so.
(You could go ahead and do your annual review now and use the workshop at the end of January as a refresher)
Stay curious,
Jesse J. Anderson