good mornin’ merry makers 📓🖊️🧠🪞🕯️🌱

i hope your holidays were (& still are) very merry.

personally, december has felt like a snow globe someone keeps shaking. holidays, parties, travel, sicknesses, gifts, feelings, more feelings. i’m currently on a plane headed to a friend’s wedding in the nyc area, equal parts grateful and deeply excited for that quiet, post-nye exhale.

every year around this time, when my energy feels scattered and my momentum needs a restart, i come back to one thing that reliably puts me back in my body in motion:

an annual review.

this is one of my most popular emails every single year, which tells me many of you are also very into this too.

and while this might feel off-brand for a retail newsie, i actually think it’s deeply on brand. the best retail is built by the best people. and the best people tend to be curious, intentional, and just self-aware enough to pause and ask,

“what actually worked?”

making time for an annual review has changed my life more than almost any habit or process i’ve tried. truly. looking back helps me move forward with clarity.

over the years, i’ve tried dozens of annual review guides. some were too short, too long. below are my goldie locks perfect absolute best-of-the-best picks.

my only rule: choose the one you’re most likely to actually finish. i’ve listed these from shortest to longest, because realism is a form of self-love.

without further ado, here’s how to reflect on your 2025…

grace clarke’s personal annual plan (google slides)

time commitment: ~1–2 hours a day for 3 days

this is for my fellow strategy lovers. grace’s template feels like a personal offsite for your life, neatly packaged in google slides. it guides you through reviewing, visualizing, and planning your next chapter, with optional ai assists if you want a little digital co-pilot energy.

there are inspiring quotes, optional mood boards, vision boards, action boards. the whole thing feels structured but spacious.

i printed this one out to work on during air travel. there is truly nothing like a cramped economy seat with no wifi to unlock your clearest thoughts. something about being mildly uncomfortable really sharpens the mind.

steven schlafman’s annual reflection guide

available in notion & google docs. even comes with a spotify playlist.

he recommends taking 2-3 weeks for this ~10 hours in total.

love that theme this year is relationality, what he describes as “the idea that everything is connected and exists in relationship.”

this eight-step guide is a shift away from doing and toward being. it includes meditative reflections, future letters to yourself, and questions that feel more like invitations than assignments.

i’ve done this the past two years and can confirm it’s quietly powerful.

especially helpful if you’re trying to build a life that actually feels like yours, not just one that looks good on paper.

intelligent change’s best year journal

calling my fellow pen-and-paper people, this one’s for you.

the best year journal blends reflection, gratitude, planning, and accountability into one beautifully designed physical journal. it’s ideal if you like something tangible you can return to throughout the year.

if you were the kid who loved planners, color-coding, or writing your name on the first page, this will scratch that itch.

also worth noting: they’re running a sale with 20% off with code NEWYEARME until midnight est on 12/31. spend over $100 and you get a free chic five-minute hourglass, which feels very “romanticizing your productivity.”

i believe reflection isn’t about fixing yourself.

it’s about listening for the small, honest signals that have been trying to reach you all year. the ones that get drowned out by noise, obligation, and other people’s expectations of who you should be by now.

especially true in the corporate world and retail.

an annual review, at its best, isn’t a performance or a productivity exercise. it’s a conversation. a gentle check-in with the part of you that already knows what feels aligned and what feels heavy.

when you make space to look back, not to judge but to notice, something loosens. clarity shows up on its own timeline. wisdom taps you on the shoulder when you’re not white-knuckling the future.

this season doesn’t ask us to reinvent ourselves overnight. it asks us to tend the garden. to notice what grew, what died, what surprised us, and what still wants light.

so take what resonates. leave what doesn’t.

follow your curiosity instead of someone else’s blueprint or worse society’s resolutions for you determined by an algorithm.

take this as time to listen and more important trust yourself.

so excited to see what’s in store for us all in 2026!

p.s. no newsie on new years as id rather you do your annual review than read another email from me.

p.p.s. my 2022 annual review led me to start this newsie on beehiiv. if you’re considering the same, i highly recommend taking advantage of this deal below. i truly love this product & their team so dang much!