New Years Reflection: 10 Journal Prompts to Reflect on Your Year

Each year, many of us start January with grand plans and visions of what the new year will bring. This is a great way to start the new year…

However, many goals and intentions fall away within the first few months. 

The best way to keep your New Year’s goals is to create realistic goals and realistic timelines for achieving them. Before you do that, it’s important to reflect on your year and figure out what you want to achieve in the future. 

1. Summarize your year.

List out the highlights of your year. A great way to do this is revisit each month and reflect on what happened (good and bad). Write down all of the events that happened that come to mind first. 

2. What goals did you accomplish this year that you wanted to? What goals did you accomplish that you didn’t expect?

List out everything, big and small, that you accomplished. Did you make your bed every day? Did you make it onto a varsity sports team? Did you ace a math test you thought you would fail?

Write down anything you feel was something that made you happy or fulfilled. 

3. What goals did you set for yourself that you didn’t meet? Why do you think you didn’t meet these goals?

Consider why you made it as a goal. Did you set clear expectations that were realistic? Was it something you truly wanted to do? Sometimes we set goals that we think we should do instead of what we want to do. 

If there was a goal you truly wanted to accomplish but don’t know how, read this article around creating and achieving goals. 

4. What was your favorite memory from this year?

What made you happy or laugh? Think about moments you had with friends, family, or even with only yourself. 

5. What was a challenge for you this year? Reflect on how you have worked to overcome it.

Each year comes with its own set of challenges. Every year comes with growth. We grow from the challenges and the hard times. Choose to see the challenges as an opportunity for growth. 

6. How are you preparing for your future? 

What do you need to do next year to continue to pursue your dreams and goals for life after high school? Make a list of everything you want to accomplish.

7. What is your dream? 

Describe your dream life as if it already happened. Pretend you have woken up in your dream life. Write down where you live, what job you have, and everything you do that day in your life. Do you have kids? Are you married? What is your dream job? Describe your perfect life. 

After you write this all out, how can you adjust your goals today to achieve this dream life?

8. List 10 things you are proud of yourself for. 

Sometimes it’s hard to brag about yourself or recognize the things you have done. List out what you are proud of. This does not have to be accomplishments, it can be anything from being a great friend to being very compassionate. 

9. Who do you look up to? 

List the qualities you admire about them and how you can apply those qualities in your own life. 

10. List your goals for next year and how you plan to achieve them. 

After looking over each of these prompts, what trends do you see in yourself? These will help establish your goals. 

Listing out how you plan to achieve them will help you follow through on your goals so that they don’t fall away after the first few months. 

Need some extra help? Create SMART Goals for yourself. Good luck as you set your goals for next year! Make this year count.