What questions do you like to ask yourself at the end of a year? Here are a few of my favorite (and the most effective) end-of-year journal questions.

These are positive questions to ask yourself for a personal year-end review. To help recognize the joyous moments in your life and inspire then motivate you to keep moving forward. These are my reflections on the year 2020 in review.

I think we all acknowledge that 2020 changed us—some changes we may not recognize or know. After being stuck at home for so long, I know I decided I don’t want opportunities to pass me by. Because who knows when we will again get the chance to do them. Here are some reflections and a review of 2020.

Write it Down So You Don’t Repeat Past Mistakes

I hope you will take a few minutes to do a review of the year 2020. This is a year I know most of us would like to forget. But as we’ve heard before: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana. And of course, this infamous quote from Winston Churchill, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

I don’t know about you, but I’d like to learn as much as I can from 2020, so I don’t have to repeat my personal struggles throughout the year. As a society, I hope we can grow and not repeat all the things we’ve gone through this year by making things better, of course.

End of Year Journal Questions to Ask Yourself: What Are You Proud Of?

What did you do this year that you are proud of? Dig deep. Give yourself credit where credit is due!

I thought that I hadn’t done anything worthwhile. But then, when I sat down to think about it, I successfully supported my family despite my husband losing his job early in the year.

I also created four handlettering workbooks – something I’d been thinking about for ages. I continued to work on my Etsy shop and website shop.

Despite the constant turmoil in my head and surrounding us as a society, there were shining moments in my life. This question prompted me to make a spread in my new collections notebook called “Give Credit Where Credit is Due.” It’s a page to summarize and celebrate all the wins, large and small, in my life for the next year. If you struggle with giving yourself credit for the good things you accomplish, consider keeping a page like this in your bullet journal.

Best Creations

One month in my bullet journal, I painted a little red truck as part of a theme. That painting in my notebook created a whole series of prints, cards, and stickers. I finally allowed myself to paint using the ‘good’ watercolor paints that I had kept sealed in a drawer and use the cotton watercolor paper I saved for ‘only the best’ projects.

Let me tell you, there is no better time to use your best supplies than now. Just like grandma’s china hidden in the cabinet waiting for a special occasion. Why not use it now?

Use the Best Stuff Now – Don’t Save It For Later

I learned that I should not wait to use the ‘best stuff’ for special projects or occasions. Why not use it every day? Because time has a way of egging by, and before you know it, all those ‘precious’ things we store up for the right moment will gather dust and never find their purpose.

Why wait for a special occasion? Get out the good china for a fun dinner with your family and make some memories! While you’re at it, use the expensive paints on that paper you bought. There is no better time than now.

Share Things You Love

One of my other favorite creations this past year was a painting I did for my husband on our anniversary. I asked him what his favorite skyline was. He loved working in Buckhead, Georgia, and had fond memories of the people and companies he worked for down there. I’ve never painted anything so significant. I’ve also never painted a skyline.

It now hangs in our living room and I love how it turned out.

I regret that I hadn’t shared it – except with a few people who came to our house before the quarantine started. I filmed the whole painting process, now I need to just share it already!

End of Year Journal Question: What Motivated You?

The odd thing that I realized motivated me was not a specific goal, but the fact that I made goals. Goals have a powerful effect on the brain. At least they do in mine anyway.

The fact that I had written goals and intentions for the year was why I kept trying throughout the year. Like most of us, I shifted my mindset through the year and focused on surviving another day. But I kept going as you did. It wasn’t a specific goal or a particular endpoint that kept me going. It’s the fact that I set goals that made me keep trying. Even though giving up this would have been acceptable.

Look Back for the Memories, But Keep Going

If you put one foot in front of the other and kept walking throughout 2020, stop and look back. Be proud of those footsteps and that you kept going. It’s ok that you didn’t run the year like a marathon.

I am all for being more gentle with myself when reviewing the year—especially when reviewing the year 2020. Unexpected and unprecedented are words we begrudgingly added to our regular vocabulary. I admit there are many things that I didn’t do this last year that I wanted to do. Partially because of the pandemic and somewhat because I lost my motivation to continue. Despite struggling to get it back full blast, I managed only a trickle from the motivation spout.

After the year we all had, I’ll gladly take whatever I can get and pat myself on the back for it. And you should, too.

What Books Did You Read?

This end of the year journal question should actually ask: “What books did you complete?” My kindle library is filled with half-read books. Though I finished a few, I definitely want to finish more next year.

If you love to read, and I can’t say enough good things about my Kindle Paperwhite. The pages look good no matter if I’m reading in the direct sunlight while the kids played in the sprinklers or at night. It’s one of my favorite devices ever. Paperwhite plus Amazon Unlimited Subscription and I could spend years happily curled up in a cozy armchair with a cup of hot cocoa.

Several of my favorite (completed or mostly completed) books this year were:

• Do It Scared – Ruth Soukup (ruthsoukup.com)
• The Happiness Project – Gretchen Rubin (gretchenrubin.com)
• Blink – Malcolm Gladwell
• Juliet’s School of Possibilities – Laura Vanderkam (lauravanderkam.com)
• 365 Daily Do Its: Organizing Tips and Challenges – Christina Scalise
• Martha Stewart Organizing

I also started recording my life in lists – Listography Your Life in Lists by Lisa Nola (listography.com) a fun way to chronicle your life experiences by grouping them in common lists. Detailing your guilty pleasures, your favorite books, or list professions you’d like to try are a few examples from the book. If you struggle with writing in a journal but love making lists, this book makes recording your life experiences a little easier.

What Traditions Did you Start & Which Did You Let Go?

Some traditions are meaningless rituals that we do for the sake of doing. When reviewing this year, I realized that it allowed us to pivot in our lives and continue only the things that truly benefit our lives and our families.

We started watching Food Network or silly movies with my kids on Sunday Evenings has been one of the best things we started. I’m not much of a TV watcher anymore. It’s something I stopped doing a few years ago (I never knew I had so much extra time!). But adding a show where we watch and comment as a family adds something special to family time. If we don’t watch a show, we will play a short game now that two of my kids are old enough to sit through an entire game without getting bored.

I stopped trying to make elaborate meals every day. Ok, they weren’t really elaborate, but they took me longer than I’d like simply because I felt unappreciated when It came to meal preparation.

I don’t know why it took me so long to finally decide that adding chicken nuggets and fries to the regular menu was ok. Since adding an air fryer to our kitchen, the nuggets are even better, and the kids gobble them up instead of pushing them around their plates, then returning 10 minutes after dinner asking for a snack.

End of Year Journal Question: Important Lessons You Learned

This year showed me that saving for a rainy day isn’t just having a full savings account (what does ‘full’ mean to you?). It means knowing how to budget and following a budget before the tragedy hits.

Budgeting saved us. I use YNAB (youneedabudget.com) to keep our finances in check. Our budget quickly became a household focus after my husband was laid off at the beginning of the pandemic.

‘Rainy Day’ doesn’t apply only to money management. Most of us went through some pretty low times this year, so having a personal well of positive resources you can draw from when times get low or depressing became almost as important as having a savings account to draw from.

Realizing that some days didn’t need to be filled with achievements. Some days were merely about surviving and having the self-compassion to allow me to have a bad day and hope for a better one tomorrow.

If I learned anything from 2020 in my review, I realized that self-compassion is a little known but essential skill that can help you survive.

More End of Year Journal Questions to Ask Yourself:

• Which of your friends were there for you when you truly needed them?
• What significant events did you celebrate this year? How were they the same/different from previous celebrations?
• What brought you joy and happiness?
• How can you simplify your day-to-day?
• What do you want to do more of in the next year?
• What do you want to do less of in the next year?
• Of all the things that you couldn’t do last year, what did you miss the most?

Looking forward, I know I want to revisit several past goals including my health journey, running monthly Instagram Challenges, and focus on productivity.

More Posts to Check Out:

Which of these end-of-the-year questions were your favorite or inspired you? As you can tell, I’m not for beating myself up – especially after a year like 2020. But I would like to learn from it and move on. I hope these end-of-the-year journal questions will help you do the same.