2020 Personal Annual Review - 20 questions to recap your 2020
By: Ravi Shankar
Tags: Happiness, Mistakes, Assessment, Decision Making, Personal Growth

image courtesy: catalysis

You are in December 2020, can you think of any other year that passed as fast as this one. I can’t, so I wanted to look back and expand the events.

You may have done a professional end year assessment, maybe you did it for yourself or your manager did it for you, but this is a personal one.

Without further ado, here are some of the questions you can ask yourself. You don’t have to write down your answers, all you have to do is think of an answer to each of these questions.

Just be honest to yourself while answering these questions.

Basic Questions

What kept you awake for a night with excitement this year? What are the events that lead to that night? What was the proudest moment for you in 2020? Have you learned anything in 2020 that you want to continue in 2021?

These questions will help you expand your decisions and happy moments

What is the happiest moment of 2020? Who are the people responsible for this? Did you thank them for it? Are you planning to spend more time with them in 2021? Have you discovered new ways of having fun in 2020? What is the new thing or experience you spend more money on in 2020? Are you happy with it? Will you do it in 2021? What is the new thing or experience you spend more time on in 2020? Are you happy with it? Will you do it in 2021? What are those things and skills you got better at in 2020? What is the most peaceful moment of 2020? What led to those events and who are those people responsible for it? What is the most successful thing you did in 2020? How hard did you work for it before achieving it? Who are those people who helped you on that journey? What are the good habits you picked up in 2020? Do you plan to continue in 2021? How did you deal with uncertainty? Who are those people and what are those things that helped you in the journey? Have you thanked them? Have you shown appreciation and love to your family, friends, and co-workers that helped you this year? How do you plan to express your gratitude and love?

These are hard questions that help you prepare for 2021

What was the most dreadful moment of 2020? Do you still feel the same way about it? Or, you overreacted? Did your fear affect your judgment at that moment? Can you identify the pattern and judge better by not let fear cloud your judgment? On which thing or experience you regret spending a lot of money on in 2020? How do you plan to tackle it in 2021? Do you need help? What is the right resource or person who can help with this? On which thing or experience you regret spending a lot of time on in 2020? How do you plan to tackle it in 2021? Do you need help? What is the right resource or person who can help with this? What are the goals you set for yourself in 2020? Have you achieved them? Apart from the pandemic, who else can take the responsibility for not hitting them? Did someone hurt you in 2020? Was it really worth your time thinking about doing something to give it back? Do you think you would have felt better if you forgive them? Are you gonna set some goals for 2021 that you know that you are not going to hit? Have you hurt anyone in 2020? Did you apologize for what you did? What led to those events? How will you avoid them in 2021?

Some of these questions gave me a smile on my face, some made me think how lucky I’m with so many good people around me, and some questions made me sad and anxious.

In the end, I don’t feel that 2020 passed faster than 2019, expanding the moments, reliving the joys and fears is making me better equipped for 2021.