The Reverse Resolution List: A Better Way to Reflect on Your Year
By: Judy Cohen
Colorful illustration titled “2025 Reverse Resolutions List” with labeled sections for reflections, achievements, goals, inspiration, and places visited
January arrives with a lot of pressure.
New goals, new habits, new plans... and half the people I know are already exhausted from the expectation to “start strong.” While I’m still trying to remember where I saved my new “efficient” passwords.
Here is the truth:
End of year thinking is messy.
We want clarity, but what we usually get is comparison.
So instead of jumping into resolutions, here is something far more grounding. Something I’ve been doing for years, long before I ever shared it publicly:
Before you set goals for the new year, make a list of what you have already accomplished this year.
Not the polished stuff.
Not the “promotions and milestones” list.
Not the perfect LinkedIn update.
I mean the real things you did.
The things that kept your life running.
The things you forgot to be proud of.
This is what I call The Reverse Resolution List, and it has become one of the most useful tools I return to every single end of year.
Where It Actually Began
My personal new year starts slowly, by celebrating my birthday.
I was lucky enough to be born at the end of the year, that magical time where everything is golden and slows down.
When everyone else seems to be running around in all different directions, like headless chickens, I usually take my time, to reflect, as the seasons cool, as everything feels like it’s slowing down just enough for you to actually hear your own thoughts (when the leaves turn and a cup of hot chocolate becomes a staple).
Years ago, during a time when nothing in my life felt particularly “on track,” I opened a gift my mom had given me: a small, aqua blue notebook embossed with a unicorn.
Embarrassing? Yes.
Loved it? Also yes.
That birthday, I opened it, turned to a fresh page, and instead of writing next year’s goals, I wrote:
“Reverse Resolutions: What I Actually Did This Year.”
I didn’t know it then, but that small act would become a yearly ritual.
Every year since, I’ve added a new page.
Same notebook.
Same messy handwriting.
Same honesty.
They are not the impressive ones that go on LinkedIn or resumes.
The real ones.
The painfully honest ones.
Throughout the years, the pages were crowded with small steps and unexpected wins. Little things I never celebrated, but that shaped the person I was becoming.
And every year, something changes.
Some pages are full.
Some are almost empty.
But every page tells a truth about that version of me.
One year, the list had only one a single entry:
“Finally finished my BSc.”
I wrote down just four words but they were earned with sweat and tears, one goal that required all my willpower to reach it.
That taught me something important -
A big achievement doesn’t always need a big explanation.
Sometimes one sentence holds an entire universe.
Why This Works For Real People With Real Lives
Here is what I learned from doing this year after year:
We forget our own resilience.
We underestimate our own growth.
We move so quickly to the next challenge that we never pause long enough to acknowledge what we already carried through.
If you are job hunting, pivoting careers, juggling family and work, burnt out, rebuilding, or simply trying to get through the week… your accomplishments will not look like the standard end of year highlight reel.
They will be quieter, more personal, more human.
Those are the ones that matter.
The Reverse Resolution List brings them back into the light.
Professionally, it helps you:
• Understand your own progress
• Track skills you developed without noticing
• Prepare for interviews and performance reviews
• Articulate your growth with clarity
• Set goals that are grounded, not pressured
And personally?
It gives you back a sense of forward motion.
Not imagined.
Not aspirational.
Real.
How To Create Your Own Reverse Resolution List
This is the exact process I use each year.
1. Pick your moment.
Not rushed. Not distracted.
Just a small pocket of time where you can exhale.
2. Use the same notebook each year if you can.
It does not have to be a unicorn notebook, but…
It helps.
There’s something grounding about returning to the same place, flipping through old pages, and seeing your life in a timeline you never meant to create.
3. Start with the obvious wins.
Things you know you did.
Projects. Milestones. Choices.
4. Then add the invisible ones.
The emotional labor.
The days you showed up when you didn’t want to.
The boundaries you enforced.
The wounds you healed.
The things you walked away from.
These often matter more than the “big goals” ever will.
5. Let it be messy.
This is not for anyone else.
Spelling errors allowed. Incomplete sentences allowed.
Honesty required.
6. Sit with it.
Give yourself a moment to let your own year be seen.
It is surprising how rarely we do this.
7. Then look ahead.
Only after reflection.
Only after acknowledgement.
Only after you understand where you stand.
Why I Keep Doing It
The Reverse Resolution List isn’t about nostalgia.
It is about anchoring yourself before moving forward.
Every year, when I flip through old pages in that aqua blue notebook, I see versions of myself I’ve forgotten. I see patterns. Lessons. Growth. Even the hard years have something on the page, and that alone is grounding.
This ritual doesn’t make life easier, but it makes the story clearer.
And clarity is worth far more than another set of resolutions you abandon by February.
A January Invitation
Before you start chasing the next milestone, pause.
Give yourself ten minutes.
Open a notebook.
Pick a page.
Write what you actually did this year.
You might be surprised.
Most of us accomplish far more than we remember.
Your Reverse Resolution List is not a brag sheet.
It is a recognition list.
A clarity list.
A grounding list.
And if you want to make it a yearly ritual, go find a notebook that feels good in your hands.
Aqua blue, embossed unicorn optional… but honestly, highly recommended.
Magic helps.
It always has.