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Since I became Agile PM, personal reflections and retrospectives have taken an important place in my life. There are multiple ways you can do it and there is no right answer to what it
should look like. I would like to share how I do a personal retrospective at the end of year. Hope this post can inspire or even complement the way you are doing your own. I can name a few
benefits of reflections like time for slowing down, reflection, letting go, learning and planning next year more mindfully. It has a positive impact on well-being and mental health. I do
not do any NY resolutions or goals without completing reflection first. For me, the best time to do this ritual is between Christmas and New Year. It may not be possible to finish it in one
sitting and it is perfectly ok. My retrospective consists of three parts. First I write down key milestones and events that happened to me during a year. I look for things like life
events, trips or promotions or even going to see the exhibition I wanted to. It is not possible to remember it all. To recall all events I look at my calendar, planner and photos on my
phone. I jot events down briefly at this step. It is reflection and analysis itself. First I look at Growth and Successes. I ask myself these questions: After this follows the Failure and
Falling section. It is all about people in my life. I reflect on who enhanced my life, who had the most positive and negative impact. And to wrap it up I look for themes and lessons. I
write down lessons learned, insights, pick moments and lowest moments, what I am grateful for and describe the year in 7 words. After this I define 2-4 themes I want to focus on next year
and then plan a next year based on this. Hope this post was helpful. Let me know in the comments if you do personal retrospectives and how would you suggest complimenting mine.