How I Use December to Super-Charge My Coming Year

Teresa Torres describes how she dedicates much of December to reflecting on the past year and planning the next. She runs an annual retrospective asking what went well and what did not, and keeps both lists in view to celebrate wins and spot gaps. She also builds a fresh 'lifetime goals' list each year to maintain an abundance mindset and learn about her own values. From these reflections she derives a short set of priorities for the year, which she then turns into goals, systems, and habits. The piece shows a simple, repeatable personal planning practice that product people can adapt for their own review and goal-setting cycles.

01Key takeaways

• Run an annual retrospective with two lists, what went well and what did not, and give both equal weight.
• Review wins regularly, since people tend to underestimate what they have accomplished and therefore what they can do next.
• Write a 'lifetime goals' list without censoring yourself to keep an abundance mindset when planning.
• Promote goals that recur year after year into the coming year's priorities.
• Ask what to do more of, what to stop, and what matters most, then pick a small set of priorities.
• Turn priorities into goals, supporting systems, and habits, since habits are what sustain progress.

02Key sections

Annual retrospective

She reviews the year across personal and professional life by listing what went well and what did not, using free-form brainstorming over several weeks. Equal attention to both lists keeps her from underestimating accomplishments.

Aspirational goal list

She writes an annual list of big and small lifetime goals without self-censorship, revisits prior lists, and promotes recurring items into the year's priorities.

Setting priorities

Guided by questions about what to do more of, less of, and what matters most, she sets a handful of priorities and shows how they shifted from employee-plus-side-business years to full-time consulting.

Goals, systems, and habits

After priorities are set, she designs goals, systems to reach them, and habits to sustain those systems, with the method promised for a follow-up post.

03From the post

“December is one of my favorite times of year. I do my best to reduce my client load so I can spend about 50% of my time looking back on the past year and looking forward to the next year. I assess how the year went asking, what went well,”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.