How I Review My Year (And How You Can Too)

Summary

Tiago Forte presents the annual life review as a structured practice for gaining perspective, understanding how life is going, and making better-informed decisions. It can help clarify priorities, recognize turning points, and consider choices involving work, relationships, health, finances, and home life.

His central advice is to understand before trying to fix or optimize. Rather than rushing into resolutions, habits, or plans, first examine what actually happened, how you feel about it, and what your experiences reveal. Goals can then emerge from a clearer understanding of your life.

Key Strategies and Techniques

• Set aside meaningful time. Forte recommends about eight hours for a transformative review, completed in one day or split across several sessions. Even an hour spent identifying a few intentions can be worthwhile.
• Put the review on your calendar. Treat it like an important appointment, and choose a time when you have enough energy and attention. The time of day, week, or year can influence how you think and feel.
• Use a step-by-step structure. Forte describes the book’s ARC method:
  1. Appreciate the past
  2. Reflect on the present
  3. Look toward the future
• Start with appreciation and gratitude. The review should not be a harsh audit of mistakes. Forte suggests using practical methods—including writing, music, art, and embodiment—to cultivate an appreciative mindset before moving on to planning.
• Look at evidence from your own life. Review what worked and what did not, what influenced your results, and what your choices contributed. Use your lived experience—not only advice from experts or books—as a source of insight.
• Make room for feelings. A review is not only an analytical exercise. Let emotions such as disappointment, grief, gratitude, or uncertainty be felt; Forte argues that suppressing them can also suppress the lessons they carry.
• Seek perspective from people close to you. Discuss relevant findings with a spouse, family member, friend, or colleague. Their observations may reveal how your behavior affects others in ways you have not noticed.
• Consider your impact and values. Ask who influenced you, whom you influenced, and which values or patterns you may be passing on to others.
• Let goals follow reflection. Questions about identity, values, personal growth, and what matters most should come before goal-setting. Goals based on self-knowledge and real experience are more likely to feel meaningful and sustain motivation.
• Adapt the practice to your circumstances. The review can be simple or extensive, and it is useful even for people new to formal reflection. Forte particularly emphasizes its value after a disappointing or difficult year, when acknowledging reality can support learning and change.

Example

Forte illustrates the approach with his own tendency to overwork. Although he initially judged his work-life balance positively, a conversation with his wife helped him see that work was getting his best time and energy, leaving less for his family. He presents this shift in perspective—not an immediate goal or plan—as the important first step toward change.

Presenter and Source

Tiago Forte discusses his book Life in Perspective: The Art and Power of the Annual Life Review, along with his personal experience teaching and practicing annual reviews.