The six questions
Six questions for an annual review
These are the six questions Year Well Built asks. They are open on purpose. Answer them here and get a plan back, or take them away and use them with a notebook.
Tell me about the last twelve months at work.
What went well, what did not, what you are quietly proud of, what wore you down. Do not tidy it.
Why it is asked: The year ahead starts with an honest account of the one behind. What you are quietly proud of and what wore you down both point at what to do next.
And the last twelve months outside work?
Health, people, home, money, play. Whatever the year was actually about.
Why it is asked: Work is rarely the whole story. What happened at home often explains what happened at work, and the other way round.
What do you want from the next year at work?
A change, a promotion, less of something, more of something, an exit, a return. Half-formed is fine.
Why it is asked: Wants come before goals. Saying what you want in plain words, even half-formed, is the raw material for an intention.
What do you want from the next year outside work?
Not resolutions. The shape you would like life to have by this time next year.
Why it is asked: Resolutions tend to be lists of things to fix. This asks for a shape, which is easier to steer by through a whole year.
What do you already know is going to happen?
A wedding, a move, a baby, a contract ending, a big birthday, a trip, a deadline. Dates if you have them.
Why it is asked: A plan that ignores what is already in the diary rarely lasts. The fixed points go in first and everything else fits around them.
Twelve months from now, what would make you say the year was well built?
One or two sentences. This is the one that gets read most carefully.
Why it is asked: This is the test for the whole plan. If the year delivered only this, would it have been a good one?
How to answer them
Write or speak as you would to someone you trust. Do not tidy it. Long answers are welcome and short ones still work. There are no right answers, only yours.
Two questions look back and two look forward, at work and at life outside it. One asks what is already fixed. The last asks what would make the year worth it. Read together, they usually say more than any one of them does alone.
More: how it works and common questions.