One thing that I do every year is write an annual review. This gives me a chance to reflect on everything that has happened in the past trip around the sun, whether amazing or agonizing, or somewhere in between.
Now that it’s March, I’m starting to feel a bit sheepish about the fact that I still have not done this. So this is me sort of just putting it out there, so that perhaps I’ll actually be more motivated to do it very soon.
So today, I will just give you the outline of what I plan on talking about, and then, next time, I’ll start filling in the details.
Overview
I usually start with an overview that summarizes the year and helps readers know what they’re going to be reading about. My overview has also been a place to give the past year a name or description, such as “The Year of Showing Up” (which was my title for 2022). At this time, I may or may not also give a name to the new year as a sort of vision statement.
Income Report
This is where I break down my sources of income and reflect on the how’s and why’s, such as “why did income in one area change?”, or “how much income came from client work?”. Of course, I don’t give dollar amounts, only percentages in terms of growth or proportion.
Sections of the Income Report include: Income Sources, Number of Clients, Number of Projects, and Change in Revenue.
Highlights
This is where I report on my favourite things from the year, in terms of my work. What were my favourite projects? What were my proudest achievements? What interesting things did I get up to? What inspired me? And so-forth.
2023 highlights will include my New Backyard Studio, 1-on-1 Coaching, and Workshops I was invited to give, plus a handful of others.
Challenges
Challenges are aspects from the past year that were very un-highlight-ish. What’s the opposite of a highlight? A Low-dark? Maybe a redaction? Either way, I will be talking about things that I struggled with, or downright failures. Talking about challenges, for me, is about presenting the reality of this career with honesty. But it’s also to accept that bad things happen, and they don’t stop me from moving forward.
2023 low-darks will include the fact that the year was my worst for client income since I started, plus a double-scoop of burnout, and more.
2023 Goals Reviewed
In every annual review, I declare my goals for the coming year. This is one of the main reasons to do these reviews, in fact. So each subsequent annual review, I go back through each and plainly say whether that goal was met or not, why, and what that means for me.
Goals from 2023 include: growing my team, producing 2 Skillshare classes, and keeping up with my daily drawing habit, plus a few more.
2024 Goals Declared
This is where I declare the goals I’ve set for myself in the coming year. I find that by setting goals, I’m more likely to have a sense of purpose in everything I’m doing. These become my north start. Goals come in two flavours: Actionable and Aspirational. Actionable goals are those I can actually complete in a tangible sense. Aspirational goals are more abstract and qualitative. One year, one such goal was “to make my work look like I’m having fun”, for example.
2024 goals may include getting more analogue in my illustration process, making 2 more Skillshare classes, and doing more print collaborations.
Conclusions
Here, I wrap a bow on the whole report and give my overall synthesis. What does all of this mean, and what did I learn that I will take with me into the new year? What can this mean to my readers, if it can help them at all?
Shout-Outs
No highlight can happen without the help of others. No challenge can be endured without the support of my friends and family. So this is where I take the time to thank those who got me through the year. Of course, I fail to mention everyone, but it’s better to try than to just not do any shout-outs at all!
So this is my declaration / promise to you and to myself: I.O.U. one Annual Report by the end of March! Please subscribe if you’d like to know when this happens!
Do you do this practice or something like it? What do you call it? Where do you do it? What do you included as your categories? Is there something I could be including here that you’d be curious to know?
Looking forward to your Annual Reviews every year (and March is very reasonable time to finish putting it together!)
I'd be curious about the shape of your day... is it always the same, how do you spend your downtime, things like that. I think making time for work is tough so seeing how a pro carves up their time can be so valuable.