A lot of people do new years resolutions. This year, I took Tim Ferriss’s advice and did a past year review. To do a past year review:
- Grab a notepad and create two columns: POSITIVE and NEGATIVE.
- Go through your calendar from the last year, looking at every week.
- For each week, jot down on the pad any people or activities or commitments that triggered peak positive or negative emotions for that month. Put them in their respective columns.
- Once you’ve gone through the past year, look at your notepad list and ask, “What 20% of each column produced the most reliable or powerful peaks?”
- 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 2019. 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.
Here were the results:
My Past Year Review
Peak Experiences
Deep work. At the beginning of 2018, I did a small spiritual workshop that changed my life. It was the kind of work that can only happen when you set aside uninterrupted time to focus on what’s important with people who are also committed to change. I made friends I still have today, worked on core issues, and learned spiritual practices that I use on a near daily basis.
This year would have been impossible without doing deep work. I credit the work I did there with the relationship I’m in now. Despite the fact this kind of deep work can be demanding on time, energy, and money, I’m going to remember this the next time I feel lazy and am not sure if the work is worth it. It makes me really glad I am starting out 2019 with a similar workshop with a completely new focus.
Releasing art. Obviously, any post on peak experiences this year has to include the fact that the documentary I worked on for six years toured across the country, was released, and is now streaming on Netflix. However, when I look back on these experiences, what I really love is making art that changes people. I loved meeting people who were following my film when I toured across the country, and now I love seeing all the responses my film is getting on social media. Even a small Facebook meme is something I’m excited to release if it connects with people in some way.
Based on this, my goal for 2019 is to MAKE MORE ART. As much as possible. Now that I’ve hit “publish” on a film, I’m much less afraid to make another or any of the other artistic projects I want to make. If by the end of 2019 I’m not a published author, I’ll be very surprised.
P.S. If you want to fund projects or hire me, contact here.
Relationships. I don’t talk a lot publicly about this area of my life, but I was thankful that in 2018, I found more people capable of emotional intimacy, understanding, and connection. Whatever I do next year, I want more of this included in it.
Better spaces. In 2018, I moved from an apartment that had very stuffy energy, to one I feel much more at home in. I have found that small changes in my environment can have a dramatic impact on mood. While this may not seem like a “peak” experience, the cumulative effect of feeling good about your surroundings can have a big impact over time. Here I would also include changes in diet, health, etc. As I make more art and do deeper work, self-care will be important.
Low-point Experiences
Bad health. During the summer of 2018, I discovered I was taking a supplement that was dramatically lowering my energy level. Nothing is worse than wanting to create and being unable to due to low energy. I’m glad a blood test made me aware of it, and I was able to correct the issue before the release of my film.
Regular blood testing may be expensive, but this is something I plan to add in 2019 with a serious focus health, and practices that keep my energy up so I can create as much as I want to.
Bad friends. With success comes jealousy. I had a few people who didn’t like the fact I was releasing a big project that was gaining attention, while their work wasn’t recognized. I also had people who said they would do things to help that never came through. Realizing a need wasn’t going to get met, or that someone is actively working to subvert your intentions is the worst.
Interestingly, relationships were the one thing that appears on this list as a peak high-point and low-point. The difference between high-point and low-point connections has been commitment. People committed to connection are willing to feel and admit to uncomfortable things. People who aren’t often project and bypass their feelings.
Many of the bad relationships I had were professional, since when working with someone I was just looking for a person to do a job, rather than evaluating them the way I do personal relationships. In the future, I may apply the lessons I’ve learned about my most personal relationships to all connections.
Next Steps
Based on the above list, I’ve got a pretty clear action plan for the coming year – one that feels far more connected to who I am and what I value then the usual new years goals of “make more money” or “lose 20 pounds.” I don’t tend to share my goals or plans publicly, but based on this you can probably guess what direction I’m going.
Have you tried this exercise? What were your peak experiences? Low-points? What do you want more of in the next years?
Try doing this exercise and sharing your results on social media – or even better with the people in your life who matter most to you.
Read More: My Most Popular Posts in 2018
