A Past Year Review
The Year is What You Make It
A few years ago, my daughter came home from school with a simple string bracelet. On it was a single word: peace. She and her friends had drawn them out of a bucket at school, randomly choosing a single word to represent the school year. Some of the other words chosen were love, connection, change, and power. Noble aspirations.
Not long into the new year, I stumbled upon an end-of-year activity with similar intentions. Stare at a jumbled word search and pick out the first word(s) you see. That year (2023) I saw the words breakthrough, alignment, connection, and change. 2023 was set to be a big year for me. I was going to make connections, align something (value? goals?) and experience some sort of breakthrough change. I was excited.
That year came and went and I never once thought of those words again. Looking back at my journals, I had some ups and downs, both personally and professionally. There was some change, but nothing earth-shattering or of the breakthrough sort.
At the start of 2024, I gazed once again into the mystical hodgepodge of letters and pulled out: love, purpose, power, and breakthrough. This felt serious. Maybe I was not paying enough attention last year and the universe was giving me a clearer signal. 2024 was going to be a year of love. And this time, a purposeful and powerful breakthrough would definitely be happening in my life. This year, I would be ready!
Again, time marched onward and I never revisited those early premonitions. I did try, though, to manifest something. I read The Secret by Rhonda Byrne hoping to better understand her “Law of Attraction.” Maybe my thoughts could manifest a reality that matched with love or power or breakthrough? Looking back on 2024, felt much like it did reflecting on 2023: some highs, some lows, and a smattering of life experiences.
I have journaled for about ten years, slowly building a habit of reflecting at the end of each day. At first, my entries were sparse, but slowly, over time, I began writing in my journal every day. Sometimes I flip through and read random entries, only to discover that as much as life changes, things often stay the same. In the late evenings, before going to bed, I often complain about my insecurities or frustrating family members or difficult colleagues; I write and feel better. But those insecurities or worries always seem to crop up, year after year. Looking back, I find that I was worrying about the same things in 2016 as I was in 2020 and still am in 2025. I deal with many of the same frustrations year after year after year. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
About ten years ago, roughly the same time I started journaling, I began reviewing my past year’s journals looking for patterns. I learned the technique from Tim Ferriss’ Past Year Review. At the end of December, I draw and label two columns: one positive and one negative1. I then review my daily journaling and weekly calendar from the previous year, noting any “people or activities or commitments that trigger peak positive or negative emotions for that month.” Once I have gone through the entire year, I ask, What 20% of each column produced the most reliable or powerful peaks?
Ferriss explains what to do next.
Based on the answers, take your “positive” leaders and schedule more of them in the new year. Get them on the calendar now! Book things with friends and prepay for activities/events/commitments that you know work. It’s not real until it’s in the calendar. That’s step one. Step two is to take your “negative” leaders, put “NOT-TO-DO LIST” at the top, and put them somewhere you can see them each morning for the first few weeks of 2026. These are the people and things you *know* make you miserable, so don’t put them on your calendar out of obligation, guilt, FOMO, or other nonsense.2
Examining each column, there are always commitments and obligations that are outside of my control (e.g.: boring staff meetings, district mandates, standardized testing, awkward holiday gatherings). However, much of the stuff that gives me the biggest joys during the year are things I can control, and as such, I want to do more of those things in the new year. I love reading, watching movies with my family, playing board games with friends, and seeing live music. I do not need to close my eyes and manifest more time with friends and family; I can get those on the calendar right now.
Not-To-Do List
Unfortunately, there are items in my negative column that I cannot control. I cannot magically manifest away standardized testing, 15-Day Challenges, or staff meetings that should have been emails. Surprisingly, in looking at 2025, most of my negatives are outside of my control. I believe that this is directly related to, year after year, intentionally scheduling positive things on my calendar so that they counterbalance all of the inevitable noise that comes with life. In the past, my not-to-do list consisted of things like staying up late, weekday drinking, and getting sucked into family drama. Over time, I developed habits that made my year, despite the stressors, filled with things that bring me joy. The more time I spend reading, writing, talking with teachers about teaching, listening to music, spending time with friends and family, the more easily I can bear the boring staff meetings and standardized testing. I may not be able to put standardize pedagogy on my not-to-do-list, but I can still find ways to passively resist such efforts. I can keep talking with others about the current nonsense teachers find themselves in as they navigate teaching and learning. I can keep finding glitter moments in the classroom while pausing to appreciate life’s simple pleasures.
My words for 2025 were: amazing, hope, peace, confident. Even though I no longer rely on an internet crystal ball to determine what type of year I will have, it is interesting to see what words appear to me out of the mess of letters. Professionally, 2025 was not a hopeful, peaceful, nor amazing year for me. However, sitting here reflecting, and knowing that I still have six more months of the school year remaining, I recognize that 2025 has strengthened my confidence in what I believe to be true for teaching and learning. Instead of shutting my eyes, hoping to attract positive vibes through mental manifestations, I plan to actively make 2026 a year of experiences I know will be positive. That means more time reading and writing, more time having fun with my family and loved ones, and more time doing the things I love do in the classroom with my students. I do not yet know how I am going to do it, but I am going to figure out a way to get my students to read and discuss more novels with each other. I am going to keep talking about the realities of teaching today, even if it seems dour. Hopefully, I may even get a chance to design a few learning experiences to end the school year. Whatever happens, it will be because of what I do to make it possible.
Have a great week! Here’s to making 2026 the year we want!
— Adrian
Resources
This is an activity I teach my students in January. I am doing this with students this week, sharing my 2025 SLIME goals, and helping them write their own. I find that it is a great alternative to New Year’s Resolutions. What will be your 2026 SLIME goals?
If you want to hear Tim Ferriss discuss his Past Year Review in detail, check out this interview with Dr. Andrew Huberman from his Huberman Lab Podcast.
The Staggering Bullshit of “The Secret” | Mark Manson
While I never liked his books, Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Everything Is F*cked: A Book About Hope does a good job outlining the problems with having the delusionally positive beliefs encouraged in The Secret.
Fight ‘The Power’ | The New York Times
If you are looking for a more academic article debunking The Secret, here is a book review in The New York Times by Christopher F. Chabris and Daniel J. Simons.
If you are looking for a good psychological explanation disproving the Law of Attraction, this article by Peter Strelan in PsyPost is very good.
The Not-To-Do List: 9 Habits to Stop Now
Need some inspiration with your Not-To-Do List? Tim Ferriss has some habits that he feels we all should stop doing. Even though this post is almost 20 years old, the advice still holds true today. I need to stop checking my email all day!
What I do when I finish a notebook | Austin Kleon
Austin Kleon is a most dedicated journaler. At any given time, he keeps four notebooks: a diary, pocket notebook, commonplace diary, and logbook. If you are interested, check out a sneak peak of his diary. In the above link, Kleon shares his ritual for finishing a notebook. He even has a ritual for starting a new notebook.
I loved reading this-so much thought and analysis into your journaling. I've just started keeping an educational journal for my teaching days and have been more consistent with my personal writing. I'll take a look at the Huberman video too-I always find him pretty good to watch. Happy New Year when it comes :-)
I did the Tim Ferriss exercise and am really, really hoping that the Seattle Mariners make the playoffs again this year because those were some serious peaks 👍