How to Make 2025 Your Best Year Yet: 7 Powerful Questions to Ask Yourself
The start of a new year always feels like a fresh slate—a chance to reflect, reset, and refocus. But if you’ve ever set big New Year’s resolutions only to feel stuck by February, you’re not alone. That’s why this year, instead of setting unrealistic goals, it’s time to take a different approach—one grounded in clarity and purpose.
Start by grabbing your phone for a yearly audit. Go through your entire year of photos—month by month, week by week. You’ll likely forget about 90% of what you did, and looking back at these moments can uncover what you experienced, who you spent time with, and where you went. You may realize you didn’t step outside your routine, and that feeling of being “stuck” for example, becomes clear. This process helps you identify the feelings and patterns that shaped your year and sets the stage for a more intentional 2025.
Inspired by Mel Robbins’ podcast, here are seven powerful questions to guide you in making 2025 your best year yet. These questions will help you reflect on what truly matters, identify what’s holding you back, and create a plan to move forward with intention. Take your time with each question, and don’t rush the process—it’s designed to be as reflective as it is actionable. Oh, and make sure you WRITE IT DOWN. On your notes app, on your computer, in a journal—write it down. Make it real by putting it out into the world.
1. What Were Your 2024 Highlights?
Before jumping into what you want to change, take a moment to celebrate your wins. Reflecting on your successes helps you reconnect with your sense of accomplishment, giving you the energy to keep moving forward. You wont remember them all, which is where your camera roll comes in! Going through all of your photos brings up feelings of happiness and laughter-and those can be your highlights (big or small!). Focus on both the big milestones and the small moments that brought you joy, pride, or growth. Recognizing these moments lets you pinpoint the things in life that fuelled your happiness, helping you bring more of that into 2025.
And if you don't see a lot of highlights, that's okay. This is data that’s highlighting things you can change. Maybe this audit is showcasing that it’s been all work, no play, or no friends in your camera roll, or not taking any trips. This is really to get a sense of what it feels like to sit down and give yourself this gift of spending time with yourself and the life that you've lived this past year.
Example:
Did you take small steps toward better health?
Were there moments where you prioritized your family or passions?
Was there a wedding? A baby? A celebration of sorts?
Did you handle a tough situation with grace?
2. What Were the Hardest Parts of 2024?
Challenges are often our greatest teachers. Reflecting on the moments that felt overwhelming or heartbreaking can help you uncover lessons to carry forward. Perhaps you struggled with burnout, trying to balance the demands of work, family, and personal needs. Maybe an unexpected sickness, injury, or loss shook your foundation and forced you to reevaluate what matters most. These moments, while heavy, are opportunities for growth, resilience, and clarity.
Take a moment to consider what didn’t serve you in 2024 and why. Was it overcommitting, neglecting your health, or letting fear and self-doubt hold you back? Perhaps it was external circumstances beyond your control that required patience and acceptance. Whatever the challenge, processing it fully allows you to identify patterns, set boundaries, and prioritize your well-being moving forward.
By acknowledging and learning from these experiences, you create a powerful foundation for change in 2025, leaving space for healing and renewed focus.
Example:
Did you take on too much and burn out?
Did you spend too much time working and not enough time doing things you enjoy?
Did you experience a loss or sickness in your circle?
Did comparison or fear hold you back?
3. What Did You Learn About Yourself This Year?
Every experience, whether positive or negative, teaches you something. Reflecting on what brought you joy and what caused frustration can help you uncover more about your values, strengths, and needs. This question isn’t about judging yourself for what you didn’t achieve, but about understanding what you’ve learned.Regardless of whether these moments felt good or bad, they all hold valuable lessons about who you are and what you need.
Jot down these insights. Reflecting on your growth over the year can provide clarity about what you want to carry into 2025 and what you’re ready to leave behind.
Example:
Did you discover that you need more balance in your life?
Did a challenge reveal the importance of leaning on others?
Did you uncover new passions or rediscover old ones?
Did you learn what drains your energy or brings you joy?
4. What Do You Want to Let Go of in 2025?
To make space for what matters, you have to let go of what’s holding you back. Think of this as a mental decluttering process. What habits, beliefs, or commitments no longer serve you? Spend time identifying these barriers and visualizing what your life might look like without them.
This could mean releasing perfectionism, saying no to draining obligations, or breaking free from self-doubt. Be specific about what you’re letting go of, and write it down as a commitment to yourself.
Example:
Let go of the pressure to “do it all.”
Say goodbye to toxic relationships or one-sided friendships.
Release the guilt that comes with prioritizing yourself.
Prompts to Consider:
Do you need to stop allowing yourself to stay in projects or situations or relationships where you feel friction or frustration.
Do you need to let go of guilt about prioritizing yourself?
5. What Are You Going to Start Doing in the Coming Year?
This is the time to dream big and think about new habits or goals you want to bring into your life. What new actions will help you grow, become more efficient, or deepen your sense of purpose? Starting something new allows you to step outside your comfort zone and create the momentum you need to build a fulfilling year. Choose a few things that will challenge you to stretch yourself in a positive direction, but don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to do everything at once.
Prompts to Consider:
Is there a passion project or goal you’ve been putting off?
Do you want to start strength training 3x a week?
Are there new routines you’d like to try for better health or productivity?
What’s one step you can take to move outside your comfort zone?
6. What Are You Going to Continue Doing in the Coming Year?
Not everything needs to change. In fact, continuing the habits or actions that worked well for you is just as important as starting new ones. Reflect on the routines, relationships, and practices that supported your well-being in 2024. When you continue doing what worked, you build a foundation of stability while also paving the way for new growth. This ensures that you’re not reinventing the wheel—you’re just enhancing what’s already working.
Prompts to Consider:
Have you established a self-care routine that works?
Are there relationships or communities that uplift you?
Maybe limiting alcohol or other substances?
Did you find any practices that helped you manage stress or stay focused?
7. What Can You Do Today to Take the First Step?
Reflection is powerful, but without action, it remains just an idea. This final question is about turning intention into reality. Identify one thing you can do today to take the first step toward a bigger goal. This action doesn’t have to be big, but it should feel like a commitment to your vision for the year. Whether it’s writing down your goals, scheduling a meeting, or researching a new habit, this small action will set the tone for the rest of your year.
Prompts to Consider:
Can you set up a simple routine to support your goal?
Is there someone you can reach out to for accountability or advice?
If you want to learn how to garden or plant cut flowers, could you watch a video about how to do that in the spring?
Can you find a date in the calendar with your friends or with your parents that works for a get together?
Final Thoughts
Before diving headfirst into 2025 with big, bold goals, take the time to reflect. These seven questions provide a framework for understanding your past year, learning from it, and intentionally shaping the year ahead. By focusing on what truly matters and creating a plan aligned with your values, you’re setting yourself up for a year of growth, joy, and purpose.
Now that you have the turn by turn set of directions on what you’re going to start doing, stop doing, and what you’re going to continue doing, now that you can see what brought you joy, what things you were missing, now You have greater self awareness now You have a deeply personal and very accurate and wise set of directions to the simple things that you can do more of, the things you need to do less of to help you have the best year of your life. The answers are in you, as cliche as that might sound.
Remember, this process isn’t about perfection or ticking every box. It’s about understanding yourself better and building a vision for a life that feels meaningful and fulfilling. So grab your journal, take a deep breath, and give yourself the gift of reflection. Let’s make 2025 your best year yet.
Listen to Mel’s podcast episode on these 7 questions HERE. (and I highly reccomend you do!)
And to really set your self up for success, you can press the blog post below titled “How to Plan Your Best Year Yet (with a big a$s calendar)” and dive right in!