Journals

Year in Review Template

A personal year in review is built from evidence, not memory: read the year back month by month, then write what went well, what did not, who mattered and what changes next year. Copy the template, or start from the example closest to the year you had.

Updated 2026-10-27

Copy and adapt

The template

Year in reviewTemplate

Year in review, [year]

Written: {{date}}. Sources read: [journal, calendar, photos, sent email, bank statements]

The year in one paragraph

[Write this last. Five sentences someone who knows you would recognize.]

By the numbers

[Count that matters to you: books, runs, invoices, days off, nights away]

Month by month

Jan: [one line]
Feb: [one line]
Mar: [one line]
Apr: [one line]
May: [one line]
Jun: [one line]
Jul: [one line]
Aug: [one line]
Sep: [one line]
Oct: [one line]
Nov: [one line]
Dec: [one line]

What went well

[Win] because [what made it work]

What did not

[Loss or disappointment] because [honest reason]

People

[Who mattered this year, who I lost touch with, who I want more of]

What I learned

[Lesson, phrased so next year's me can use it]

Last year's intentions, checked

[Intention]: [kept / dropped / changed] because [reason]

Next year

Keep: [one thing]
Stop: [one thing]
Start: [one thing]
Theme or question for the year: [a few words]

5 examples

Examples for different situations

The same structure, filled in for the situations people actually bring to it. Copy the one closest to yours.

1.A year with a layoff in it

When it fits: Use this when the year had one hard event that colors everything, and the risk is that the review becomes only about that.

A year with a layoff in itExample 1

Year in review, 2026

Written: 2026-12-28. Sources read: daily notes, job search tracker, calendar, bank statements

The year in one paragraph

Laid off in March with 140 other people. Seven months of searching, 63 applications, 11 first interviews, 2 offers. Started at a logistics company in October at 8 percent less pay. In between I taught my nephew to ride a bike, read more than in the five years before, and found out who calls back.

By the numbers

63 applications, 11 first interviews, 4 final rounds, 2 offers
27 books (2025: 6)
$9,800 of savings used, out of $14,000

Month by month

Jan to Feb: normal. Promoted to team lead in name, not pay.
Mar: laid off on the 12th. Severance 10 weeks.
Apr to Jun: applied badly. Generic CV, 30 applications, 2 interviews.
Jul: rewrote the CV with Noor's help. Interviews tripled.
Aug to Sep: four final rounds. One rejection hurt more than the layoff.
Oct: started at Corvane.
Nov to Dec: learning the domain. Tired, steady.

What went well

The July CV rewrite, because I stopped describing duties and started counting results.
Kept a routine: up at 7, applications before noon, outside after lunch.

What did not

April to June, because I applied to everything instead of the 20 roles I actually wanted.

People

Noor, who rewrote my CV over three Sundays. Dad, who sent money I did not ask for and did not want to need. Two former colleagues who stopped answering.

What I learned

A narrow search is faster than a wide one.
Keep six months of expenses, not four.

Last year's intentions, checked

Get promoted: changed. Got the title, then lost the job.
Read 12 books: kept, 27.

Next year

Keep: reading, the 7:00 start.
Stop: saying yes to every weekend shift to prove myself.
Start: rebuild savings to $14,000 by December.
Theme or question for the year: steady.

2.First year as a parent

When it fits: Use this when one big change split the year into before and after, and you want both halves on the page before the first half fades.

First year as a parentExample 2

Year in review, 2026

Written: 2026-12-30. Sources read: daily notes (sparse from May), photos, the feeding log, our shared calendar

The year in one paragraph

Theo was born on May 19, eleven days early. The first half of the year was getting ready; the second half was surviving and then, slowly, enjoying it. Maya and I fought more than ever in July and less than ever in November.

By the numbers

4,000 photos, give or take. 31 of them printed.
14 weeks of leave for me, 26 for Maya
Longest stretch of sleep in August: 3 hours 40 minutes

Month by month

Jan to Apr: nursery painted, car seat installed three times, birth class on Thursdays.
May: Theo. Two nights in the hospital.
Jun to Jul: no sleep. A fight about who is more tired every Sunday.
Aug: back to work. Daycare waitlist.
Sep: daycare spot. First cold, then everyone's first cold.
Oct to Dec: Theo laughs. We split nights by the calendar, not by who is more tired.

What went well

Nights split by the calendar, because it ended the Sunday argument.
My parents every Wednesday, because it gave us one evening a week.

What did not

My running: 4 runs since May. Because I made it the first thing to go every time.

People

Maya. My mother, every Wednesday. Ben, the only friend without kids who kept showing up.

What I learned

Agree the system before you are tired, not during.

Last year's intentions, checked

Run a half marathon: dropped, without regret.

Next year

Keep: Wednesday evenings.
Stop: apologizing at work for leaving at 17:00.
Start: two runs a week, pushing the stroller if needed.
Theme or question for the year: less heroic, more regular.

3.A quiet year that turned out not to be

When it fits: Use this when your first answer to "how was your year?" is "nothing much happened", and you suspect the month-by-month pass will prove otherwise.

A quiet year that turned out not to beExample 3

Year in review, 2026

Written: 2026-12-27. Sources read: daily notes, garden log, photos, the calendar on the fridge

The year in one paragraph

Second year of retirement after 34 years of teaching chemistry. I expected to write "nothing much happened". Reading the year back, it was full: the garden produced, Ellen's knee was replaced, I tutored four students, and I finally wrote to my brother.

By the numbers

212 pounds of tomatoes, beans and squash, about a third given away
4 tutoring students, 96 hours
3 hospital visits, all for Ellen's knee, all fine

Month by month

Jan: seed catalogs. Ellen's surgery booked.
Feb: knee replacement on the 18th. I learned to cook more than eggs.
Mar to Apr: physio three times a week. Started tutoring Mrs. Alvarez's grandson.
May to Aug: the garden. Too many zucchini, as every year.
Sep: wrote to Carl after four years of not speaking.
Oct: Carl wrote back. Two pages.
Nov to Dec: tutoring, seed catalogs again.

What went well

Ellen walks two miles again, because we did the physio exercises together every morning.
The letter to Carl, because I wrote it instead of rehearsing it.

What did not

The book I meant to write about teaching. Not started. Because I never gave it a time.

People

Ellen. Carl, again. The four students, who kept me sharp.

What I learned

Quiet years are made of small things you forget by December. Write them down when they happen.

Last year's intentions, checked

Garden: kept. Book: not started. Reconnect with Carl: done, and it took one letter.

Next year

Keep: tutoring, the garden.
Stop: planting eight zucchini plants.
Start: the book, Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
Theme or question for the year: say it in writing.

4.A year that ended differently than planned

When it fits: Use this when the big plan you wrote last January did not happen, something else did, and you need to judge the year by what it became rather than what it was meant to be.

A year that ended differently than plannedExample 4

Year in review, 2026

Written: 2026-12-29. Sources read: studio notes, sales spreadsheet, the lease file, daily notes

The year in one paragraph

The plan was a second ceramics studio by September. Instead the landlord sold the building in May, I spent the summer finding a new space for the first studio, and by autumn I had a waitlist for classes and no second location. Revenue was up anyway, because classes earned more than shelf sales ever did.

By the numbers

Revenue $118,000 (2025: $97,000). Classes 58 percent of it, up from 30.
41 students on the class waitlist
1 move, 2.4 tons of clay and equipment, 3 weekends

Month by month

Jan to Apr: viewing spaces for the second studio. Bank loan pre-approved.
May: building sold. 90 days to move out.
Jun to Jul: found the Elm Street space. Signed a 5-year lease.
Aug: the move. Lost two kilns' worth of firings.
Sep to Oct: reopened. Classes full in two weeks.
Nov to Dec: added Saturday classes. Shelf sales flat.

What went well

Classes, because people want the evening as much as the mug.
The 5-year lease, because I will not do that move again soon.

What did not

The second studio, because the move took the time and the loan went to the new lease deposit.

People

Hana, who ran the studio while I packed. The regulars who carried boxes on a Sunday.

What I learned

The plan was "more space". The business wanted "more classes". Those are not the same project.

Last year's intentions, checked

Second location by September: changed. Became more classes in one location.

Next year

Keep: Saturday classes.
Stop: wholesale orders under 50 pieces.
Start: a second instructor, so the waitlist turns into classes.
Theme or question for the year: what does the waitlist want?

5.Annual review for a work self-evaluation

When it fits: Use this when "annual review" means the performance cycle at work and you need a factual record of the year before you write your self-evaluation.

Annual review for a work self-evaluationExample 5

Year in review, 2026 (work)

Written: 2026-12-08. Sources read: weekly reviews, 1:1 notes with Grace, merged PRs, incident log

The year in one paragraph

I moved from feature work to the platform team in April. The first quarter there was slow, the second was the search index migration, and the last was mentoring two new hires. The migration is what I will be asked about; the mentoring is what I am proudest of.

By the numbers

Search index migration: 14 services moved, zero customer-facing incidents
186 PRs merged, 240 reviewed
6 on-call weeks, 2 incidents as incident lead

Month by month

Jan to Mar: checkout redesign shipped Feb 26.
Apr: moved to platform. Two weeks of reading code.
May to Aug: search index migration. Cutover Aug 19.
Sep: incident lead for the Sep 3 queue outage. Wrote the postmortem.
Oct to Dec: onboarded Bea and Kofi. Led the logging cost proposal.

What went well

The migration, because we cut over one service a week instead of all at once.
Bea shipped her first fix in week two, because the onboarding note was current.

What did not

April. I did not ask for help early enough in the new codebase.

People

Grace for the honest 1:1s. Idris for reviewing my design docs within a day.

What I learned

Ask for a code tour on day one, not week three.

Last year's intentions, checked

Lead a cross-team project: done (migration). Present at the guild: not done.

Next year

Keep: one-service-a-week rollouts.
Stop: taking on-call swaps every time someone asks.
Start: present the migration at the engineering guild in Q1.
Theme or question for the year: influence beyond the team.

Three things called a year in review

Search for a year in review template and most results are slide decks: Canva and PowerPoint layouts for a company to show customers its wins. That is a different job. This page is the personal version, the one you write for yourself at the end of the year.

There is also a third meaning. At many companies, the annual review is the performance cycle, and the self-evaluation is due in December. The template works for that too, as a way to collect the facts first; the last example above shows it.

Reading a year of notes in an hour

The one piece of advice every annual review guide gives is "use your journal and calendar". Almost none say how. Here is a way that fits in an hour:

Calendar first, 15 minutes. Go month by month and write one line per month in the template. Only events: trips, moves, starts and ends, illnesses, visits. This is the skeleton.
Notes second, 30 minutes. Read your daily notes or journal for each month, skimming. You are looking for three things: anything that made you angry, anything you wrote about more than twice, and anything you had forgotten. Add a few words to that month's line.
Photos and money last, 15 minutes. Photos show where you were and who with. Bank statements show what you actually spent time and money on, which is sometimes different from what you wrote.

Then close the sources and write the rest of the template from the month-by-month list. Wins and losses come out of it almost on their own.

How to fill in each section

By the numbers. Three to five counts you would want to compare next year. Skip any number you would not miss.
What went well, what did not. Each item with a because. "The CV rewrite worked because I counted results instead of listing duties" is a lesson. "Good job search" is not.
People. The people who mattered, and honestly the ones you drifted from. This section is the one people reread most.
Last year's intentions. If you wrote some, check each one as kept, dropped or changed. If you did not, skip it this year and you will have it next year.
Next year. One keep, one stop, one start, and a theme. More than that and none of it survives February.

Common mistakes

Writing from memory. You get November, December and one big event. The middle of the year disappears.
Only wins. A highlights reel is pleasant and teaches nothing. The losses with reasons are what change next year.
Twelve resolutions. The year in review is mostly looking back. One keep, one stop, one start is enough forward planning.
Starting from zero every December. If you do a weekly review during the year, the annual review is mostly reading those 52 entries.

When to use a different template

For goals with dates and measures for the coming year, take the Next year section into the goal setting template. For a review that is about one event rather than a whole year, the reflective journal template fits better. And if what you need is a performance review at work, start from the self-evaluation template.

Customization tips

Read before you write
Spend the first half of the time reading: daily notes, calendar, photos, sent email. Memory keeps the last two months and the one big event. The month-by-month pass is what brings back April.
Pick numbers that mean something to you
Books read and countries visited are the defaults. Better numbers are the ones you would want to compare next year: savings used, nights slept away, hours with your kids, invoices paid late.
Write the summary paragraph last
It is the first section on the page and the last one you write. After the month-by-month pass, the paragraph usually says something different from what you would have written at the start.
Check last year's intentions honestly
Mark each one kept, dropped or changed, with a reason. Changed is a legitimate answer. The ceramics example above did not fail its plan; the plan turned into a better one.
Split work and life if both are big
If you also need an annual review for work, write two: one personal, one with the facts your self-evaluation will need. The last example above is the work version.
Keep the theme to a few words
A word or a short question ("steady", "what does the waitlist want?") is easier to remember in March than a list of resolutions. Put it at the top of next year's first weekly review.

In the app

How to do this in Scribelet

Use the calendar on the daily notes screen to walk the year month by month. Dot markers show the days you wrote, so you can see where the gaps are before you start reading.
Ask the AI chat "what did I write about the job search between April and June?" or "when did I first mention the Elm Street space?". It answers from your own notes with citations to the specific days.
Save the template above in Desk Settings, then Templates, Add Template, with the category Journal. Keep {{date}} in the Written line so you know when the review was done.
Link the people and projects that mattered, like [[Carl]] or [[Search index migration]]. Their notes then list this review in the backlinks panel next to every other note that mentions them.
Write next year's Start items as checkboxes with @due(2027-03-31) so they show up in the Tasks view instead of staying in a note you will reopen next December.

Templates, template variables and AI generation are documented in Note templates.

Frequently asked questions

What should I include in a year in review?

At minimum: a month-by-month pass, what went well, what did not, the people who mattered, and what you will keep, stop and start next year. Numbers help if you choose ones you care about. A one-paragraph summary written last ties it together.

What is the difference between a year in review and an annual review?

They are often the same thing for personal reflection. At work, "annual review" usually means the performance review cycle; for that, use this template to collect the facts, then write the self-evaluation or prepare for the performance review. A company "year in review" is a different product again: a slide deck or report for customers, which this page does not cover.

When should I do my year in review?

Between Christmas and the first week of January is common, because the calendar is quiet. Any two-hour block in the last two weeks of December works. Some people prefer their birthday, which also avoids the pressure of New Year resolutions.

How long does a year in review take?

Plan for two hours: one hour reading your notes and calendar, one hour writing. If you kept no notes during the year, add an hour for photos and email. The weekly review template makes next year's review much faster, because the year is already summarized 52 times.

What if I did not keep notes this year?

Use what you did keep: calendar, photos, bank statements, sent email and messages. They give you dates and places, which is enough for the month-by-month section. Then start a daily journal in January so next year's review has more to work with.

Next December, read your year instead of guessing it

Write a few lines a day in Scribelet's daily notes, then walk the year month by month on the calendar and ask your notes what happened in April. Encrypted, free to start.

Start this year's notes

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Planning

Weekly Review Template

A weekly review is 45 minutes that stops small things from going stale: clear the inboxes, look back honestly, check every project has a next step, then choose three priorities for next week. Copy the template, or start from the weekly review example closest to your week.

Journals

Daily Journal Template

Seven minutes a day: two in the morning to name what matters, five in the evening to write what happened and what you noticed. Copy the daily journal template, or read the five entries below to see it filled in on very different days.

Planning

Goal Setting Template

Most goal templates are a page you fill in once in January. This one is a chain: a few life goals, three for the year, one milestone each per quarter, and three weekly goals that move them. Copy it whole, or use only the level you need today.

Journals

Reflective Journal Template and Reflection Examples

A reflection describes what happened, works out why, and commits to one thing you will do differently. The examples below show that move in five different settings, and the template keeps each entry honest by checking last time's action first.

Work

Self Evaluation Examples and Template

Most self evaluation examples are single sentences. Below are five complete self reviews, each for a different kind of year, with goals, evidence, what went wrong and a self-rating with its reason. Pick the one closest to your year, then use the self evaluation template to write your own.

Work

Performance Review Template

A performance review template is only as fair as its rating scale and its evidence. This one defines each rating level in the template itself, ties every goal to a result and a source, and leaves room for the employee to disagree in writing. Copy it, or start from the example closest to the review you have to write.