Last week we talked about how to set goals for December. With 2025 looming ever closer, we’re looking even further ahead. It’s time to start engaging in our year-end reflections and setting goals for the upcoming year.
Goal-setting doesn’t just involve thinking ahead, though. It also requires you to look back. Reflecting on the past year helps you identify what went well and what you want to change moving forward.
Let’s talk about how to productively reflect on 2024 and use that insight to set goals for 2025.
Reflecting on the past year
You’re more than 92% done with 2024, but you still have a few more weeks before 2025 rolls in. There’s never been a better time to look back and look forward at the same time.
Why reflection matters
Reflection is a crucial part of setting meaningful and realistic goals. To start with, thinking about ways you succeeded reminds you of what you’re capable of. When you’re engaging in year-end reflections for 2024, start with all the wins you experienced for an instant dopamine boost.
At the same time, reflection is necessary for growth. It allows you to identify areas where improvement is needed and avoid repeating your past mistakes.
Looking at both the good and the bad of the past year ultimately helps you clarify your priorities so that your personal and work life line up with the long-term vision you have for yourself.
Key questions to ask yourself during year-end reflections
You could spend hours, even days, thinking back on all that happened in 2024. Use these questions for targeted and productive reflections.
- What 2024 accomplishments am I most proud of?
- What goals did I achieve?
- What is the most important lesson I learned this year?
- What mistakes did I make and what did they teach me?
- What activities added the most value to my life?
- What areas still felt like they were lacking?
- Which relationships brought me joy and which ones were emotionally draining?
- What technology habits do I want to change?
- If I could sum up 2024 in one word or phrase, what would it be?
- What do I want to leave in 2024?
- What do I want to carry into the new year?
How did you use your time?
Let’s be honest, we usually look at our time management in terms of a day, or a week if we’re being generous. Rarely do we take the time during year-end reflections to look at how we managed our time over the past year.
With RescueTime premium, you’re able to review the time you spend using your computer since the moment you downloaded the app. This allows you to look back at your entire year as a whole and identify patterns. Were there months or seasons where you were more or less productive? Did you accomplish more focused work on certain days of the week? Use this insight when you’re setting goals and making plans for the upcoming year.
If you haven’t upgraded to Premium yet, doing so now will give you these insights as you enter into 2025.
Reset your mindset
You’ve probably heard some version of the cheesy line, “There’s nothing like the fresh start of a new year.”
Let’s clarify one thing— it can be cheesy and still be true.
A new year is the perfect time to commit to the change that’s often necessary to achieve your goals. But, in order to change your actions, you have to first adjust your mindset.
Fixed vs. growth mindset
When you look back during your year-end reflections, you probably noticed one or two (or ten, if you’re anything like me) things you wish you would have done differently. Unless you’re Marty McFly, that’s just not possible.
You’re left with two options:
- Wallow in your mistakes and regrets. Lie awake at night thinking about that wrong thing you said or the client you lost.
- Look at your mistakes and regrets and determine how you can avoid them in the future.
In an ideal world, we’d all go with option 2. But this isn’t an ideal world– it’s the real world. We’ve all lost sleep over the mistakes we’ve experienced, without ever making a plan to do better.
That stops now.
Look back at the key questions you asked yourself about 2024. For every answer you’re not pleased with, consider one way you can improve your response for 2025. You’re not stuck with habits or behaviors you don’t like unless you decide not to make a change.
2 ways to refresh your mindset for 2025
Give yourself a truly fresh start to 2025 by eliminating things that act as a physical or mental hurdle. With these roadblocks out of the way, you’re better prepared to start working toward your goals.
- Social media detox
Have you ever seen the phrase “Don’t believe everything you read online” that’s often jokingly attributed to Abraham Lincoln?
It’s easy to get caught up in the fantasy of social media and begin to believe that your life *should* look a certain way. But, let’s remember that we’re only seeing the best of people’s lives— curated moments that they’re choosing to share with the entire world.
On top of that, so much of what is posted is absolutely not the truth. One evening I watched an influencer’s video detailing her family’s morning routine from 5-9 am. She shared that after waking her son, she made his bed around 8 am. That sounds great, except for the fact that the giant clock in his bedroom showed it was actually 3, and the sunlight coming through the window confirmed it was 3 pm.
So, social media isn’t always realistic, and sometimes it’s not even real. Whether or not you realize it, what you see on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook is influencing what you do and how you feel about yourself. LinkedIn is a valuable professional networking tool, but remember that it too is a highlight reel. No one is posting about the client they lost, only the clients they gained or the latest article they published.
There are a dozen ways you can implement a digital detox depending on your needs and what you’re able to commit to.
- Go all in and deactivate your accounts.
- Delete social media apps from your phone.
- Adjust your settings so you have to log back in every time you want to check your account.
- Establish certain times of the day that you keep your phone in the other room.
- Unfollow accounts that make you feel worse, even if you genuinely like seeing their content. (I once did this with a home decor account that was inspiring but made me feel like my home was never good enough.)
- Use RescueTime to identify which apps or sites you spend the most time on and remove just those accounts.
A social media detox won’t just free you from the weight of unrealistic expectations, it’s almost guaranteed to return time that once felt lost. Researchers suggest that the average adult spends 2.5 hours a day on social media. A one-week social media ban would net you an additional 17.5 hours you previously spent scrolling.
2. Declutter your space
In an article titled What does clutter do to your brain and body? the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners asserts that clutter can—
- reduce your working memory
- increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol in your body
- make you less productive
A general directive to declutter your space leaves a lot of room for interpretation, though, and honestly feels overwhelming if you feel like your whole life needs to be decluttered. Start with the area that you most dread seeing everyday.
Maybe you hate sitting down to your desk because it’s covered in papers or you’ve let your closet become nothing more than piles of clean and dirty clothes. Tackle this spot first to lift the heaviest weight off your shoulders. From there, declutter areas you see and use most often, until your living and work spaces all feel conducive to the life you really want to live.
Set meaningful goals for the new year
You’ve taken the time to engage in thoughtful year-end reflections. You’ve mentally and physically created a clean slate. You’re finally ready to start thinking about the future.
Let’s start setting some goals.
Create a business plan that includes professional goals
90% of entrepreneurs and executives believe that a strategic business plan is necessary to carry out your business activities… but only 46% actually create that plan. For a lot of freelancers and solopreneurs, planning ahead means anticipating the next week or month, possibly the next quarter if you’re feeling bold. It’s time to start thinking bigger.
Creating a business plan for the next year is one of the most straightforward ways to reflect on the past year and set goals for the next year. An effective plan might include:
- A review of your performance in 2024. Outline your income and expenses, major business wins, and pre-determined KPIs such as new clients gained, client turnover rate, proposals sent, etc.
- SMART goals for the year as well as each quarter. You might even set goals for each month.
- Milestones of what you want to achieve. This could include:
- financial milestones
- securing clients at a higher rate
- working a certain number of hours per week
- working in a certain industry or with a certain client
- outsourcing certain tasks
We talk about SMART goals a lot at RescueTime because they provide a clear path toward the success you’re aiming to achieve. In case you missed it here or here, these goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.
If you want a more in-depth look at how to set and achieve your goals for 2025, you can check out our 33-page guide that explores common pitfalls and successful approaches to setting goals and making sure they stick.
Implement daily rhythms that move you closer to your goals
Big goals are achieved through a collection of small actions. You don’t just climb Mt. Everest. You start by building up your physical strength and endurance. You climb smaller peaks to build your skills. You remain consistent in order to prepare your body for the larger challenge that lies ahead.
Okay, so you’re (probably) not climbing Mt. Everest, but hopefully you’ve established at least one or two goals that feel almost as lofty. You won’t just wake up one day having achieved your goal— you’ve got to work up to it through a series of smaller actions.
One easy way to do this is to consider how you can habit stack. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, discusses the practice here. Instead of introducing a brand new habit completely on its own, you pair the habit with a ritual already in your life.
How can you habit stack to establish daily rituals that shape your 2025 into the best year yet? Think about the habits you perform without fail and how you can pair them with something you want to add. James Clear suggests this formula:
After/Before [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].
It might look like this—
- After I start the coffeemaker in the morning, I’ll drink one full glass of water.
- After I start the dishwasher at night, I’ll go ahead and pack the kids’ lunches for school.
- After I check my work email, I’ll set my inbox to DND for one hour for focused work.
- Before I start working for the day, I will send one pitch email to a prospective client.
Use technology to help you stay on track
The deeply personal nature of goals means that you’re often working toward them alone, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it without support.
Use RescueTime to help you track your time and ensure your actions are lining up with your goals. For example, if you’ve set a goal to stick to a 40-hour work week as the new year begins, you can analyze your time to see if any time-wasting apps are creeping into your work hours. It’s amazing how a 5-minute break can become a 30-minute scroll-fest twice a day.
2025 is your time to thrive
Take the next week to dive into the past year and plan for the future one. Set goals– both personal and professional– that move you closer to the life you envision for yourself. The dreams you have won’t come to fruition until you create a plan, so it’s time to get moving!
