Journaling the First three quarters of 2026 before moving into the fourth quarter
I find it helpful to review January through September before moving in the absolute downhill slide that is October through December. Don’t get me wrong, I love Oct- December. But I also know that after Christmas I am going to be looking back at the past year, and planning for the year ahead. Previous years have taught me that this is less daunting if I do a miniature version of this before the Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas rush.
We might start by gathering up all of our journals, notebooks, etc from this past year. We might also gather any photo albums of printed phots, and have our photos nearby.If time allows, we might make a “favorites” photo album from this past year by selecting the heart icon in whatever photo storage system you use. This is a great memory-jogger, and it also helps when you are looking to make a year end photo book in December. We will want these things handy as we try to get a Birds Eye view of our year. But we aren’t re-reading them yet.
Next, I like to set a 25 minute timer (based on the Pomodoro technique), and write. I write every highlight and memory from the pst year. I am not worried about handwriting, spelling, or chronology. Those can come later as I move on to the Memory Keeping portion. For now, I want. a list of what has happened to me, to my family members. The highlights, lowlights, celebrations, wins, loses. The rejoicing and the grieving. Births celebrated, endings endured.
Once this is in place, I start a new piece of paper and go month by month. I use my memory first, but if I get stalled, this is where I glance at photo albums or favorite photos from that month. These used together give me a good understanding of my month. I do this for each month. January through September.
I like to review my goals and habits at this point. Did I accomplish what I set out to do? What changed? What seemed less important as the year went on? For example, what showed up on my habit tracker in January that fell off by April - and why? Was it because I gave up, or was it because I mastered that habit, or was it because it no longer felt important ?
Usually in January I am full of ideals, things I want to accomplish. By February , I’m burned out with Homeschool and tired of winter- knowing this makes it easier to not freak out when I feel this way.This has very practical ramifications - for instance, in February I can remind myself that I don’t need new curriculum, I might need a nap or some kindness towards myself, or to brave the frozen tundra of Missouri and go for a walk.
If this is enough, then feel free to stop here. Sometimes, once I’ve done a basic review, that’s all I need. Other times though I go a bit deeper. I skim and scan my old journals ( I don’t read every entry- that would be time consuming. I am looking for highlights here.) I may then review my year with journal prompts. I will include a few to get you started, but I will warn you that no-one will have the perfect set of prompts for you. This is where a more Morning Pages style approach might work best.
What were your major accomplishments this year ? For each quarter ? Each Month?
What gave you energy and what drained you ? (Bonus tip : Emily P. Freeman has Life Energy and Life Draining lists in her guided journal. I’ve bought five over the years and find them helpful. )
What habits did you start, build, and keep? What did goals or habits did you leave behind?
What surprised you?
What changed ?
Where did you procrastinate? What work did you avoid? What nagging tasks must still be done?
What have you learned this year?
List your Top Three for each Quarter : Memories (Jan-March), (April-June) , (July-Sept ) ,
Successes (Jan-March) (April-June) , (July-Sept )
The Hard Stuff ( Jan-March) (April-June) , (July-Sept )
Now that we have looked behind, we can look ahead with clarity, and choose a few good things to take with us. What are you bringing forward into the last quarter of 2026? Drop me a line, I would love to know.
