The Annual Review, Reimagined

A Values-Driven Path to a More Meaningful Year

The TLDR: Over the past six years, The Ultimate Annual Review guided 45,000+ people around the world through year-end reflection. Like all meaningful transitions, it's time to honor the ending and embrace a new chapter. Our team at Downshift has reimagined the entire experience—shifting from goals to values, from achieving to truly living. We invite you step into a different way of approaching your year—and your life.

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Late last year, while working through the Ultimate Annual Review, I encountered a book that fundamentally reshaped my approach to life and reflection: Values in Therapy by therapist and author Jenna LeJeune, PhD. Recommended by my therapist, the book offered a nuanced framework for understanding how values shape personal transformation within the context of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

For years, my life had been defined by doing—achieving, ticking boxes, and making things happen. I was always living in the future, looking towards the next goal, moving like a heat-seeking missile towards whatever milestone was just over the horizon. Through LeJeune's work, I faced an uncomfortable truth: my constant forward momentum was often a distraction from what truly mattered.

Guided by her philosophy and the principles of ACT, I made a radical shift where I abandoned goals for 2024 and instead focused on What Matters Most. Rather than setting traditional resolutions and goals, I began to focus on the qualities that truly matter to me—the ones that make me feel alive and energized. Stepping into this year, I adopted three core values and words: creation, curiosity, and connection. These became my compass, guiding my days and actions, replacing the hunt for external milestones with a more authentic way of living.

After sharing this new approach with friends, colleagues, and clients, I realized I wasn't alone. Those I respected had also embraced this values-driven approach to year-end reflection and planning. Many of us were quietly growing exhausted by the relentless cycle of setting goals, achieving them, and feeling no more fulfilled than before—hungry for a more meaningful way of moving through our lives.

This year, as I shifted from doing to being, from chasing achievements to truly experiencing life, something profound happened. My entire approach to work and life transformed. Rather than measuring success through external accomplishments, I began gauging my days by how closely I aligned with my values. This wasn't just a slight adjustment—it fundamentally reshaped how I moved through life.

What emerged surprised me. Downshift came into being with an ease and flow I'd never experienced before in my work. Despite working 9-to-5 most days, I found myself learning, creating, and connecting more than ever. I took a month-long sabbatical in Copenhagen, spent more time in nature, deepened family connections, and published consistently—all without the usual strain of trying to optimize every minute. Everything flowed from living in alignment with what truly mattered.

Beyond Achievement: A New Approach

Why has this approach resonated so deeply? It contrasts sharply with the relentless push for more—more achievements, more goals, more proofs of worth—that dominates every December. This incessant drive often stems from focusing on perceived lacks—on what we believe is missing, broken, or inadequate in our lives. Yet, it rarely honors the innate gifts, values, and qualities we already possess.

Most high performers have mastered the art of achieving. We can set goals, crush targets, and push boundaries. But many of us struggle to find peace in simply being ourselves, irrespective of our accomplishments. The constant need to prove our worth through achievements creates its own particular kind of exhaustion—one that no amount of success seems to cure.

This realization—that achievement alone doesn't lead to fulfillment—is what led me to reimagine the annual review process entirely. After experiencing such a profound shift in my own life through values-based living, I knew it was time to create something different.

Downshift's Annual Review is a deliberate counterpoint to this approach. It's not about adding more to your plate or finding new ways to optimize yourself. Instead, it's an invitation to pause and reconnect with who you are beneath the achievements.

Our Eight-Step Reflective Journey

Moving from philosophy to practice, we've created a framework that honors both reflection and intention. Each step builds upon the last, guiding you from what was to what could be, all while staying grounded in what truly matters to you.

We've designed a thoughtful process to help you explore a more intentional way of living:

1. Plot Your Memories & Milestones

2. Capture Your Learnings & Lessons

3. Assess Your Current Life

4. Conduct Your Annual Edit

5. Envision Your Future Self

6. Identify Your Core Values

7. Live Your Values

8. Write a Letter to Your Future Self

Each step creates space for genuine reflection rather than quick fixes. This isn't about racing to plan your perfect year—it's about taking time to understand what truly lights you up and letting that guide your path forward.

Traditional reflection often stays in our heads—thinking, analyzing, planning. But real transformation requires engaging our whole selves. That's why we've woven in guided meditations to help you slow down and tune in, visualizations that bring possibilities to life, and carefully chosen resources that deepen your understanding. Even the playlist was crafted to create the right space for this work. Everything is designed to engage not just your head, but your heart and body in the process.

This experience we've designed for you honors the complexity of being human—recognizing that our truest insights often emerge when we create space to listen deeply, feel fully, and imagine freely.

Begin Your Journey

At its heart, this isn't about fixing what's broken or achieving more. It's about discovering what deeply matters to you and letting those values guide your journey.

Whether you're a high achiever feeling the weight of constant striving, or someone seeking deeper meaning in your days, Downshift’s Annual Review offers a different path. Imagine starting your year not with a list of goals to chase, but with a clear sense of what makes you feel fully alive. Think of how it would feel to move through your days guided by what energizes you rather than what you think you should be doing.

This is your invitation to step off the achievement treadmill and into a life that feels authentically yours.

Ready to approach 2025—and your life—in a new way?