You know that feeling, right? The year's almost
over. You look at the calendar and just think,
where did it go? Exactly. Wow, that went by so
fast. Yeah. And then what happens? We fall right
back into that same old pattern. We make these
huge promises for the new year. The gym, saving
money, all of it. And by February, they're just
gone. Well, here's the core idea we're pulling
from our source material today. Real self -growth,
the kind that actually sticks. It doesn't just
happen by accident. You can't learn just by living.
You learn by pausing, by reflecting. You have
to look back before you can really move forward.
And welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we are going
straight into this annual reflection framework
for personal growth. And this is not just about
journaling, right? No, not at all. This is a
strategy. It's built around seven very specific
questions that are designed to take all the messiness
of your life and turn it into clean, actionable
data. So our mission today is to really distill
this for you. We're going to cover why reflection
is so critical, how you can update your own internal
beliefs. Like your personal operating system.
Exactly. And then how to map your energy, what
gives it and what takes it, and then how to spot
these hidden boat anchors that are holding you
back. It's time to start drifting. Let's start
making some smarter decisions based on, you know,
actual data from your own life. OK, so let's
jump in. The framework starts with this really
powerful idea. It asks you to imagine two people
who live the exact same year. Identical. Same
job, same win, same failures. Everything. Person
A just kind of... rolls into the next year. They're
tired, they're busy, they just keep going. In
person B, they do something different. They take
one single day to stop. Just one day. They look
back and they actually analyze what made them
happy, what made them sad, and more importantly,
why certain things failed. And the advantage
person B gets from this one day is it's huge.
It's not that they're smarter or more talented.
No, not at all. They just have better information
about themselves, clearer data. Most of us are
just drifting with a fuzzy idea of what we even
want. That clarity is everything. It's the ultimate
shortcut. And what I love is that the barrier
to entry is so low. You don't need some expensive
coach. You just need a pen, some paper, your
calendar, and a quiet morning with some coffee.
So if it's all about the data, Why is doing this
kind of reflection more valuable than just being,
say, naturally intelligent or successful? Why
can't you just think your way through it? Because
being smart isn't just about knowing things.
It's about having better, clearer information
about yourself. That makes perfect sense. You
can have the fastest car in the world. But if
your map is wrong, you're just going nowhere
faster. Exactly. Which leads us right into the
first big question of the framework. This is
where we start updating our own software. Question
one is... What did I change my mind on this year?
And this is so important because, you know, we're
often taught that changing your mind is a sign
of weakness, like you're inconsistent. Right,
that you should stick to your guns. But the frameworks
is the exact opposite. Changing a core belief
isn't just a sign of growth, it is the evidence
of growth. It's like your phone's operating system.
If you never update it, it gets slow, buggy,
and eventually just can't run the new apps. Perfect
analogy. If your beliefs are the same as they
were on January 1st, then you haven't really
grown. You're running on old software. So how
do you find those belief shifts? There's this
great little technique called the calendar cringe
test. You literally open your calendar to, say,
January or February. And you look at what you're
doing, the meetings, the projects you said yes
to. And you just ask yourself, does this make
me cringe a little bit? No. That's brilliant.
That cringe feeling is a positive signal. It
means your current self is smarter and has better
boundaries than your past self. You've learned
something. I can totally relate to the author's
example on this one. They talked about starting
the year believing that being busy meant being
successful. Saying yes to every coffee meeting.
We've all been there. Yeah. And now they realize
an empty calendar isn't lazy. It's space for
deep work. I have to admit, I still struggle
with that. The whole idea that saying no means
I'm going to miss something big. Oh, for sure.
That scarcity mindset is tough to shake. It goes
against everything Hustle Culture teaches us.
It really does. So, okay, you find the cringe,
but what's the actual action step here? What
does the framework say to do? You write down
two or three things you used to believe that
you now know just aren't true for you. Got it.
So from there, the next section moves from beliefs
to... the practical mechanics of your life. It's
all about energy. Yeah, the core idea here is
that success isn't just about discipline. It's
not about forcing it. It's about maximizing your
energy. Which brings us to question two. What
created energy this year? This is where you do
what they call the calendar audit. You go through
your schedule, and you mark everything that filled
you up in green. And they break it down into
three types of energy, which I found really helpful.
Me too. First is work energy. You know, those
tasks where you just lose track of time. Flow
state. For me, that's writing. Then there's personal
energy, hobbies, running, cooking, whatever recharges
you. And third, this is a big one, people energy.
Who do you talk to that leaves you feeling lighter,
more optimistic? Yeah, that's crucial. And the
key tip they give is to judge the activity by
how you feel after you do it, not during. Right.
A hard workout might feel awful in the moment,
but if you feel amazing afterward, that's a green
item. Which of course leads right into question
three. What drained energy this year? These are
your red items, and we all know what these are.
The back -to -back meetings, the admin work.
And I love this term they use, shower people.
Isn't that great? Those people who are so negative
or draining that after you talk to them you feel
like you need to, you know, wash it all off.
Totally. So you identify the drains, but you
can't always just eliminate them. Exactly. So
they have a simple three -step process. First,
eliminate what you can, just stop doing it. Second,
delegate. give it to someone else, or even an
AI tool. And the third one is my favorite, redesign.
You change how you do the task. The example they
gave was so simple but so smart. The author hated
long phone calls inside, so they redesigned them
as walking calls. And just like that, a red item
becomes a green one. A draining task becomes
an energizing walk. It's all about changing the
context. So if you're doing this audit, How can
you be sure you're picking a real energy creator
and not just like a distraction? You have to
judge it based on how you feel after it's over,
not the temporary rush you might get during it.
Welcome back to the deep dive. Okay, we're moving
on to question four and this one. This one asks
us to look at some of the tougher stuff. It does.
The question is, what were the boat anchors in
my life? And I think this analogy is just, it's
perfect. Imagine you're in this powerful boat,
engine running, sails up. Everything looks right.
But you're barely moving. You're just dragging
through the water. Why? Because there's this
huge, heavy anchor hidden under the surface.
And these anchors are almost never simple problems.
They're usually these deep -seated beliefs or
bad habits we don't even notice anymore. They're
way harder to spot than just... you know, a meeting
you don't like. For sure. And the framework points
out a couple of common ones. First, there's the
I can do it all anchor. Oh, I know this one well.
The entrepreneur or the manager who just won't
delegate because their ego says only I can do
it right. And it's so limiting. It caps their
growth and the growth of their whole team. The
other big one they mentioned is the toxic information
diet. Just hours spent scrolling through angry
news or social media drama. It feels like you're
staying informed, but it just fogs up your brain.
It's dead weight. So, if these things are so
hidden, how do you find them? The source gives
two questions. First, what's the one problem
I complain about all the time but never actually
fix? And second, where do I consistently feel
stuck? Wow, I mean... Just imagine the speed
you'd gain if you cut just one of those major
anchors instead of trying to stag on 10 tiny
new habits. It completely changes the math on
self -improvement. It really does. So if an anchor
is that hard to spot, what's the best litmus
test to find it? It's that recurring complaint,
the thing you keep talking about year after year
but never address. That's the anchor chain. OK,
that leads us to question five, and this one
takes some real honesty. What did I not do this
year because of fear? Fear is, without a doubt,
the number one enemy of growth. But I love the
way they reframe it here. Fear usually just means
you're inexperienced, not that you're incapable.
We were all afraid to drive a car once, you know.
Fear is just a lack of data. And to get that
data, they bring up the fear setting exercise.
It's a really powerful way to replace that vague
feeling of dread with a rational analysis. It's
a three -step process. Step one, you define the
fear with total clarity. I'm afraid to start
a YouTube channel. Step two, what's the absolute
worst case scenario? Maybe a few people laugh
at you. You waste a little time. Right. And step
three, what's the best case scenario? You build
a community, learn a new skill, create a new
income stream. And when you put them side by
side, the potential upside is almost always way
bigger than the downside. It's like the monster
in the closet. It's terrifying in the dark. But
this question turns on the light and you realize
it was just a pile of clothes. So why is that
exercise more powerful than just telling yourself
to be brave? Because it replaces a scary shapeless
shadow with cold hard data and a real risk assessment.
Okay, so now we're in the final stretch, the
lab phase. Question six is, what were my greatest
hits and my worst misses? This is where you have
to think like a scientist. You're analyzing your
experiments from the last year. When you look
at your wins, your hits, you have to separate
them. Was it just luck, like finding 50 bucks
on the street? Or was it repeatable? Like, you
got fit because you hired a coach and followed
a specific process. You had to focus on the repeatable
stuff. And you do the same thing for your misses.
You separate the learning misses where you failed
but gained something valuable. From the avoidable
misses. Yeah. The failures that came from laziness
or, this is a big one, from ignoring your gut
feeling. Yeah, that example they gave about working
with a client even though they had a bad feeling
from the start. That's so relatable. The lesson
there was crystal clear. Trust your intuition
with people. That's the real win from that failure.
Which brings it all together in the final question
number seven. What did I learn this year? This
is where the patterns become a plan. And the
key is to be super specific. No vague goals.
You have to use their format. I learned that
insight, which means that I should action. Can
you give one of the examples? I thought they
were great. Sure. I learned that I have the most
mental energy in the morning, which means that
I should do my hardest work before 10 a .m. Or,
I learned that scrolling social media makes me
feel anxious, which means that I should delete
the apps from my phone on weekdays. It's so direct.
Insight, then action. The last one was about
fear. I learned I avoid public speaking out of
fear, which means I should join a speaking club
in January. See. It turns a wish into a rule,
based on your own data. The final step is just
to pick your top five or ten of those and make
them your non -negotiable rules for the new year.
And if you do that, you're basically programming
guaranteed growth for yourself. So if you're
doing this and you have huge wins and really
painful losses, where should you focus your analysis?
You prioritize two things, the repeatable hits,
so you can do them again, and the hard lessons
you learn from the avoidable misses. And before
we wrap up, there's a really interesting bonus
tool they mention, which feels very 21st century,
using AI as a neutral observer. This is fascinating.
Because we all have blind spots about our own
lives, right? We're too close to it. Exactly.
So you can use a tool like ChatGPT to act as
a kind of analytical life coach. It can spot
patterns that you're just too emotional to see.
It's not about advice. It's about unbiased pattern
recognition. Right. And the process is simple.
You can just paste in your journal entries or
your answers to these seven questions and ask
it to analyze them. And you ask it specific things
like, what's my biggest source of energy? Or,
what's a boat anchor that keeps showing up in
these notes? Or even just, what's the one pattern
here that I really need to change? It's like
having a data analyst for your life. That feedback
loop could be incredibly powerful. Okay, so let's
bring this all home. The big idea is that you're
at a crossroads right now. You can drift into
the new year, same as always. Making the same
resolutions that you know are gonna fail. Or,
you can choose to pause. You can take that one
day to reflect and to plan with intention. using
data from your own life. This framework is a
guarantee. You'll stop repeating mistakes. You'll
understand your energy. You'll finally face those
fears. It is the most direct path. So seriously,
grab a coffee, open your calendar, and make the
time for this. Your future self is going to thank
you. And we'll leave you with a final thought
to mull over. This framework is powerful once
a year, but with tools like AI that can pull
these insights almost instantly. What would happen
to your growth if you did this kind of deep dive
not just once a year, but once a week? Something
to think about as you start building your next
better year.