{"id":12145,"date":"2025-12-27T20:34:58","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T00:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/forget-new-years-resolutions-and-conduct-a-past-year-review-instead-559\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T20:34:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T00:34:58","slug":"forget-new-years-resolutions-and-conduct-a-past-year-review-instead-559","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/forget-new-years-resolutions-and-conduct-a-past-year-review-instead-559\/","title":{"rendered":"Forget New Year&#8217;s Resolutions and Conduct a &#8216;Past Year Review&#8217; Instead (#559)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3831\" height=\"3831\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-36726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?w=3831&amp;ssl=1 3831w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?resize=100%2C100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?w=3000&amp;ssl=1 3000w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?resize=3831%2C3831&amp;ssl=1\"\/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3831\" height=\"3831\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?resize=3831%2C3831&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-36726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?w=3831&amp;ssl=1 3831w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?resize=100%2C100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tfs_essentialism_blog.jpg?w=3000&amp;ssl=1 3000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>I<strong>\u2019<\/strong>m often asked about how I approach New Year\u2019s resolutions. The truth is that I no longer approach them at all, even though I did for decades. Why the change? I have found \u201cpast year reviews\u201d (PYR) more informed, valuable, and actionable than half-blindly looking forward with broad resolutions. I did my first PYR after a mentor\u2019s young daughter died of cancer  on December 31st, eight years ago, and I\u2019ve done it every year since. Her passing was a somber reminder that our days here are too precious not to fill them with the people and activities that nourish us most. The PYR takes just 30\u201360 minutes and looks like this:<\/p>\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Grab a notepad and create two columns: POSITIVE and NEGATIVE.<\/li>\n<li>Go through your calendar from the last year, looking at every week.<\/li>\n<li>For each week, jot down on the pad any\u00a0<strong>people<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0<strong>activities<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0<strong>commitments<\/strong>\u00a0that triggered peak positive or negative emotions for that month. Put them in their respective columns.<\/li>\n<li>Once you\u2019ve gone through the past year, look at your notepad list and ask, \u201cWhat 20% of each column produced the most reliable or powerful peaks?\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Based on the answers, take your \u201cpositive\u201d 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\u2019s not real until it\u2019s in the calendar. That\u2019s step one. Step two is to take your \u201cnegative\u201d leaders, put \u201cNOT-TO-DO LIST\u201d at the top, and put them somewhere you can see them each morning for the first few weeks of 2026. These are the people and things you *know* make you miserable, so don\u2019t put them on your calendar out of obligation, guilt, FOMO, or other nonsense.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>That\u2019s it! If you try it, let me know how it goes.<\/p>\n<p>And just remember: it\u2019s not enough to remove the negative. That simply creates a void. Get the positive things on the calendar ASAP, lest they get crowded out by the bullshit and noise that will otherwise fill your days. <\/p>\n<p>Good luck and godspeed, everyone!<\/p>\n<p>###<\/p>\n<p>If you prefer to listen to the audio version of this blog post, you can find the audio on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The<\/em>\u00a0<em>Tim Ferriss Show<\/em>\u00a0podcast<\/a>:<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-tim-podcast-link-main podcast-block\"><a class=\"podcast-block__link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/559-forget-new-years-resolutions-and-conduct-a\/id863897795?i=1000546249866\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"podcast-block__link-icon\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/themes\/timferriss\/inc\/blocks\/podcast-link\/images\/apple-podcast.png?ssl=1\"\/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/themes\/timferriss\/inc\/blocks\/podcast-link\/images\/apple-podcast.png?ssl=1\" class=\"podcast-block__link-icon\"\/><\/noscript><span class=\"podcast-block__link-text-top\">Listen on<\/span><span class=\"podcast-block__link-text\">Apple Podcasts<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-tim-podcast-link-main podcast-block\"><a class=\"podcast-block__link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/74xgFR1wjykf1NKCdv5cvy?si=X2dieXHZQISK8vXXOpAtQA\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"35\" height=\"35\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"podcast-block__link-icon\" src=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/themes\/timferriss\/inc\/blocks\/podcast-link\/images\/spotify.svg\"\/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"35\" height=\"35\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/themes\/timferriss\/inc\/blocks\/podcast-link\/images\/spotify.svg\" class=\"podcast-block__link-icon\"\/><\/noscript><span class=\"podcast-block__link-text-top\">Listen on<\/span><span class=\"podcast-block__link-text\">Spotify<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-tim-podcast-link-main podcast-block\"><a class=\"podcast-block__link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/overcast.fm\/+KebtP9oU8\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"podcast-block__link-icon\" src=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/themes\/timferriss\/inc\/blocks\/podcast-link\/images\/overcast.svg\"\/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/tim.blog\/wp-content\/themes\/timferriss\/inc\/blocks\/podcast-link\/images\/overcast.svg\" class=\"podcast-block__link-icon\"\/><\/noscript><span class=\"podcast-block__link-text-top\">Listen on<\/span><span class=\"podcast-block__link-text\">Overcast<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"podcast-player\">\n<div class=\"podcast-player-inner-wrap\">\n<p>#559: Forget New Year\u2019s Resolutions and Conduct a \u2018Past Year Review\u2019 Instead<\/p>\n<p><noscript><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.art19.com\/shows\/58dacbdc-646e-4585-9914-19c3de11d1ba\/episodes\/70df830d-de78-4729-ad0e-5b31c70ea986\/embed?type=micro\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 30px; border: 0 none;\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong><em><strong><em>Listen to the episode on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/559-forget-new-years-resolutions-and-conduct-a\/id863897795?i=1000546249866\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/74xgFR1wjykf1NKCdv5cvy?si=X2dieXHZQISK8vXXOpAtQA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/overcast.fm\/+KebtP9oU8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Overcast<\/a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/podcastaddict.com\/podcast\/2031148#\" target=\"_blank\">Podcast Addict<\/a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/pca.st\/timferriss\" target=\"_blank\">Pocket Casts<\/a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/podcast\/the-tim-ferriss-show\" target=\"_blank\">Stitcher<\/a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/castbox.fm\/channel\/id1059468?country=us\" target=\"_blank\">Castbox<\/a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9yc3MuYXJ0MTkuY29tL3RpbS1mZXJyaXNzLXNob3c&amp;ved=0CAAQ4aUDahcKEwjI_ezXzuDnAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ\" target=\"_blank\">Google Podcasts<\/a>, <strong><em><strong><em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/9814f3cc-1dc5-4003-b816-44a8eb6bf666\/the-tim-ferriss-show\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon Music<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong>or on your favorite podcast platform.<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hop.clickbank.net\/?affiliate=infohatch&amp;vendor=J1R2C\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10614 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png\" alt=\"Profit Gen\" width=\"400\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px.png 400w, https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/profit-gen400px-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m often asked about how I approach New Year\u2019s resolutions. The truth is that I no longer approach them at all, even though I did [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parmaks.com\/Resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}