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2017
michaelbalchan.com
2017
Annual Review & Celebration Official Workbook
michaelbalchan.com
Intro to the 2017 - 2018 Annual Review & Planning Process
Congratulations! You’ve made it through another year! It’s been full of ups, downs,
wins, losses, challenges, opportunities, lessons, and life. Some things went according to plan, and others probably didn’t.
No matter where your journey has taken you, here you are. Alive. Aware. Your past
has given you a treasure trove of experiences. Your future is waiting to be shaped.
This year marks the third edition of this annual review & planning process. Whether this is your first time completing it, or you’ve been here since the beginning, be proud that you’re planting seeds to continue creating a life you love.
The questions and exercises in these pages are how I’m personally reflecting on
2017 and looking forward to 2018. In these tools, as in life, some things have changed, and others have stayed the same. Use them in the way that would benefit you most.
Part I looks back at the past year with the intention of celebrating, learning, and
growing. Part II looks forward to next year and lays the conditions to make it your best year yet - in a never ending string of such years.
As always, the process is based on some of the most powerful methods and
modalities of personal growth, psychology, performance science, physiology, wellness, and the world’s spiritual and wisdom traditions. It can help you create incredible things - you just have to do the work.
What are you making with your moments, hours, days, weeks, months, and years?
Your life is yours to shape, so shape it. I can’t wait to see what you create.
michaelbalchan.com
Quick Tips on Completing
“I believe luck is preparation meeting opportunity. If you hadn’t been prepared
when the opportunity came along, you wouldn’t have been lucky.”
― Oprah Winfrey
1. Look at the next few weeks on your calendar and schedule time to complete this process. It can help to make an appointment and then treat that event as sacred, just like a meeting with your boss, spouse, or hero. For best results, set aside at least an hour or two. Earlier in the day tends to work better.
2. Identify a location where you can be present without distraction , somewhere that makes you feel calm and clear. Natural environments are great for this - try visiting a nearby park, greenhouse, or conservatory.
3. Prepare ahead of time by printing out this workbook and making sure you’ve got a fresh pen, or saving down a copy that you can access and edit offline. If you’re going digital, make sure your battery has a full charge.
4. Spend some time brainstorming on what might get in the way of you completing this process. Can you remove some of those obstacles ahead of time? For the ones that you can’t, what are you going to do when they arise?
5. When the time comes, go to your chosen location, turn off your wifi, put your phone in airplane mode (or shut it down), and give this experience your full attention. You’re worthy of it.
michaelbalchan.com
2017
Annual Review & Celebration
“Why should we look to the past in order to prepare for the future?
Because there is nowhere else to look.”
- James Burke
Part I of our annual process begins by looking back at the journey we’ve been on, remembering the highs and learning from the lows.
This workbook contains 25 questions, a three-prompt wrap-up, and a final
farewell, separated in the following way:
● 10 questions to help celebrate what went well ● 6 questions to help grow from what could have gone better ● 9 questions to help solidify lessons learned ● 3 prompts to move forward ● 1 final exercise to appreciate
There’s no right or wrong way to complete it. Skip anything that doesn’t apply to
you, or you don’t like or feel doing. Do it by hand on printed paper or in a journal, or digitally.
Let’s get started.
Completed By: ______________________ Date: ______________________
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Celebrate
“Celebrate your journey of life.”
- Lailah Gifty Akita
Look back on the experiences of the past twelve months and use the following questions to help celebrate the year you just completed.
1. What three words would you use to describe your 2017?
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2. What were your biggest wins from the year?
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3. If a movie was being made about your experiences from 2017, what would it be called?
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4. What’s the nicest thing someone said about you? What’s the nicest thing you said
about someone else?
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5. What was the biggest positive surprise?
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6. What did you create that you’re most proud of?
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7. What were your favorite moments spent with family or friends?
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8. Did you do anything for the very first time in your life, or do anything that scared
you?
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9. Which of your personal strengths did you use most?
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10. How have you grown?
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michaelbalchan.com
Grow
“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, [...]
I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.”
- Charles Dickens
By reflecting on what could have gone better, and how, we can alchemize our less-than-ideal moments into fuel for our growth.
1. Where did fear hold you back?
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2. Which of your goals didn’t go as planned? What happened?
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3. What would you do differently if given a chance? How?
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4. Which worries turned out to be completely unnecessary?
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5. What were the biggest mistakes you made? What did you learn from them, and how will you honor and apply those lessons by being better going forward?
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6. Where is your biggest opportunity for growth and future improvement?
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Learn
“Learn today so that you may live tomorrow”
- Chris Bradford
We create our future on the foundation of lessons from the past.
1. If you could travel back in time to December, 2016, to share a lesson with your
former self, what would you say?
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2. What are the biggest lessons, insights, or memories that you’re taking away from the past year?
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3. What did you discover about yourself in 2017?
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4. What new and inspiring people did you meet? What have you learned from them?
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5. When were you happiest over the past year? Where were you, what were you doing, and who were you with?
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6. What books, movies, articles, or courses most resonated with you? Why?
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7. What did you spend the most time thinking about?
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8. How has your worldview changed?
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9. What topics did you most enjoy learning about?
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Move Forward
“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”
- John A. Shedd
Make a list for each of the following prompts. It can be as simple or as detailed as you’d like. Begin with your favorite responses to the previous exercises, start from scratch, or do something in the middle. Again, there’s no need to get it perfect. Trust yourself and honor what’s there
1. What am I going to carry with me from last year? These can be lessons, insights, or memories.
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michaelbalchan.com
2. What am I ready to release and leave behind? What mindsets or beliefs are no longer serving you? What unfinished items are you going to take off your to-do or goal list?
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3. What am I excited to bring into my life next year? Write freely and allow your
thoughts to flow without judgment. We’ll dive deeper into this in the following workbook.
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michaelbalchan.com
Say Thanks
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life
is the foundation for all abundance.”
– Eckhart Tolle
As the last step of the review and celebration, write a short gratitude letter to
your 2017. Thank the year for helping you become the person you are today, and putting you in a position to create a future you’re excited about.
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michaelbalchan.com
Now… to Next Year!
"Bring me that horizon."
- Jack Sparrow
The annual review and planning process continues in the 2018 Best Year Yet
Workbook. If you don’t have a copy yet, visit www.michaelbalchan.com/tools for digital and physical options.
michaelbalchan.com
About the Author
Michael Balchan is a mental coach to executives and inspired leaders. A Harvard trained behavioral economist and psychologist with a master's in Optimal Living, he helps his clients feel and perform at their best. He is the founder & CEO of efive.co . Previously, he spent seven years in the commodity option markets, where his calm presence under pressure earned him the nickname "zen trader." Michael is the author of Meditation: What, Why, and How To Meditate (Hint: Breathe in. Breathe out.) , part of a commitment to see 5% of the world's population develop a daily mindfulness practice. He is also the artist of Plus One Pic Notes , daily
illustrations that make personal-growth playful, practical, and accessible.
He is a top 10% Ironman finisher, a world-class learner, a master practicer, and a committed partner. Read more at his award-winning blog, www.michaelbalchan.com .
michaelbalchan.com
Gratitude, Sources, Mentors, Inspirations, and Role Models
● Scott & Chelsea Dinsmore of Live Your Legend ● Brian Johnson & Evan Shoemaker of Optimize ● Jacob Sokol ● Jason Goldberg ● Michael Hyatt & Daniel Harkavy, Living Forward ● Jonathan Fields, How to Live a Good Life ● Chris Guillebeau Yearly Review ● Alex Ikonn & UJ Ramdas of Intelligent Change ● James Clear Yearly Review ● Lewis Howes of The School of Greatness ● Croix Sather of Dream Big ● Tayler Pearson author of The End of Jobs ● Anuschka of Into Mind
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