Basic workday schedule

😴 Sleep plenty. can do 7 if well rested, at least 9 if tired.

🎁 Prep the day if possible. Having things like clothes and bag ready (and so minimising decisions to make in the morning) gives a head start.

🚲 Go to work. If desired, can start at some other place for inspiration.

☕ Start the work day with a nice cup of coffee and minimal 15 minutes of writing on a blank A4 paper. Jot join what’s in your head regarding work. Ask questions like “What’s important right now?”, “What are my priorities?”, and “What have I, in professional context, learned recently?”. End this process with planning the day/week/month. I write this in a dedicated physical professional journal.

🏗️ Do a good chunk of deep work on one of the priorities. Aim for 3 hours, but if it is possible to do more, why not? Try to protect this time. Don’t plan meetings.

🥪/💪 Take a break.

⚙️ Fill the rest of the day with tasks. This will probably not be the most exciting things, but it keeps the organisation running. I operate my tasks from the Do dashboard.

🌂 Go home whenever feels right. If the energy is up, a task can take 5x more time and effort to do then when going home. Go home and rest at 90-95%, save that final energy for deadline days!

✨ Enjoy life. Work comes tomorrow. The rest of the day is for the other pillars of human life.

🌀 Stressed? Don’t solve it by thinking about work. Solve it by writing about my thoughts, feelings, and the process.

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⚙️ How to effectively do tasks

“aim for your North Star, plan for the foreseeable future, live in the moment.”

Bram – on how to work towards big goals

Clearly define the foundational target:

• your North Star

Any type of work that is progress towards the North Star is categorisable in either:

• Practices
• Initiatives

executing principles I follow

• To touch is to finish
• It’s okay to remove/archive things, this means you’ve learned something
• Be kind to yourself in setting to do’s. Be strict to yourself in executing to do’s.
• If possible, wrap a little tie around it when finishing something up. This give more standalone value to the created piece, and it both cleans the mind and provides satisfaction.
• It is I who distracts myself the most
• I am explicit to myself (SMART)
• Approach work as sport: 1. warmup → 2. work → 3. cool down
• I organize my thoughts. I write down, such that I don’t have to remember.
• I pay attention to what I do. This rules out multitasking. Multitasking is terrible → to touch is to finish.
• I am aware of the type of energy the task requires, and I am aware of my current energy. Aligning those two is critical for stress-free work
• I track my time. Time can feel very different depending on the task and the success of execution. Tracking time calibrates my time intuition, and so enables me to learn how to pace my work. I’ve learned to do this quite automatically, so it’s not needed anymore.
• Day one thinking. Each day again, consider it as the first day at the job: what would you do?
• I can sense what my body and mind need to function well. I create an environment where I can easily act to those needs. (couch; food; go for a walk.

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How to make a decision between many things:

• Longlist: how many are you okay with trying?
• Shortlist: 1/3 see without choosing
• Then: Choose the best next option you find

Spend significant time on understanding the problem and asking the right question. Often, this results in an answer spontaneously (with a little help of a LLM).

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How I perform good work

Written December 1, 2024

Principles

• Log decisions. Log them in a place visible from the place where that decision is constantly made in some practice.
• Whenever possible, wrap up the work before switching to something else. This gives value to the work, even if its not in its desired state yet, and it keeps the mind tidy.

System

• North Stars
• Sprints
  • 12w → then reflection week
• Initiatives
• Practices

Brakes

• Take brakes, they are effective 🙂
• Before starting a break, make clear to yourself for how long you will take a break. Time bounding the brake will create clarity such that you can actually rest. I personally like 15-30min breaks. Shorter is often not feasible for me.
• Minimise input during breaks. No music, no phone, no writing. A break is to pause input and output.
• Breaks are great for checking in with the holy trinity. How is the body doing? Need some rest? → take a 10-20min nap. Need some nutrition? → eat or drink moderately. Need some movement? → stretch or exercise.

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I took three days to reflect on 2024.
I consolidated the learnings, and created this daily direction for my 2025:

To do this, I created a my own framework.
Below, I’d like to share this framework with you.

The goal of the framework was to perform a holistic reflection; including all aspects of life. To do this I made use of the 5 pillars I often use to categorise my life: health, spiritual, relational, professional, and joy (more details on this can appear in My personal religion). Additionally, the reflection result should optimally be able to concisely be read back throughout the year and understood without further context. This way, the result can act as a direction – a set of North Stars that help me aim my daily wandering.

The whole process was quite organic, but I still tried to try to capture the method I followed. Below, you can find the sections and questions I used for doing my reflection.

To use this document for your reflection follow all numbered annotated instructions. Be aware, the last step is put on top of the document. Skip this one and start with 1.

Filling in the document took me about 2 full days of work, followed by a day of finetuning and wrapping up. In total I’d say I spend 10h of effective work and 5 cups of coffee.

I don’t think this year reflection framework fits everyone: it’s quite elaborate, and optimised for the way I live my life. However, even if it’s not for you, it might still contain some useful elements, or simply inspire your own way of reflecting.

Happy reflecting! 🌈

Created on: January 2nd 2025.
Last edited: January 6th 2025.

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🤖 Want to learn how I used the help of AI to create this framework?

click here to see the prompts I used

1st shot: Defining the task

Prompt

Help me execute a thorough and useful year reflection.

Context

For the next day and a half, I want to reflect on my 2024. I want to do a holistic reflection; thus including a personal, professional, relational, and maybe spiritual perspective. I want to conclude the process with a finished deliverable that I can read back upon throughout the year and so act as a guiding document / anchor.

I believe that an important question is: “What do I want to get out of life? / In what direction do I want to grow?”. I believe it is important to choose a direction of growth if significant progress is desired to be made (essentialism). I feel like I want to prioritise growing as a professional, but I’m not sure in what direction and the more fundamental why.

Optional context

I’ve created a personal framework for looking at my life, dividing my life into 5 fundamental pillars:

1. 🫒 the holy trinity Fundamentally, I am a human being with biological needs. The holy trinity: nutrition, exercise, and rest, is the basis for a healthy body. A healthy body allows me to physically be at peace, and from there start chasing my dreams.
2. ⚫ spiritual practices Consciousness can be quite the overwhelming storm. Spiritual practices are what provide me with control and spiritual peace: the feelings of contentment, abundance, and happiness.
3. ❤️ relationships My relationships with others are what make me human. Through selflessly giving and receiving attention I can experience one of the most beautiful things in life called love.
4. 🪡 my profession Through my profession I give to the community – in return I can take what is required to take care of my family. Also, professional life is what enables me, and society, to grow.
5. 💫 joy & wonder Last but not least, the fact that I am that specific part of the universe that is able to experience and explore itself is incredibly amazing. For this, joy & wonder are in place. Let us enjoy this beautiful experience.

Think if this framework makes sense to use. If it does, use it – if it doesn’t feel free to ignore this framework.

Help request

Help me structure this reflection. Start with asking me questions to help us both understand what I want to get out of this reflection. Then, when you feel like you understand my wishes well, start using scientifically validated best practices to build a reflection structure.

Response

Let’s start with these and then I can better tailor the reflection structure to your needs. I’m particularly interested in understanding if there are specific areas where you feel stuck or uncertain, as that might influence how we approach this.

I appreciate you sharing this thoughtful context. Before diving into structure, let me ask you a few targeted questions to better understand your reflection goals:

1. When you read this reflection document in the future, what concrete outcomes or insights would make you feel “this was truly worth the effort”?
2. Looking at your operations lead responsibilities and personal framework, there seems to be an interesting tension between professional growth and holistic life balance. How important is it for this reflection to help resolve or clarify this tension?
3. Your framework shows deep contemplation about life’s dimensions, but you mentioned wanting to prioritize professional growth. What makes you lean toward professional growth at this moment? Are there specific experiences or observations driving this?
4. When you say “deliverable,” what format would be most actionable for you? For example:
   • A narrative reflection with key insights
   • A structured assessment with clear metrics
   • A combination of reflection and forward-looking commitments
   • Something else entirely?

2nd shot: Answering its first question

Prompt

Thank you for your questions.

1. Concrete outcomes or insights that would make me feel this was truly worth the effort are: 1. Wrapping up and storing the year nicely: having some memoir of what I did, thought, and felt during 2024. 2. Having a clear target (North Star) for 2025: knowing what I want to grow in, and having ideas for first practices and priorities I want to implement to set steps towards this goal.
2. Clarify, and potentially resolve, the tension around professional growth and holistic life balance is of medium importance. I feel like I can set my boundaries pretty well. But if I could create some clarity for myself when I should prioritise professional growth or holistic life balance that would be great.
3. Great question. I think this comes from some deep ambition, or drive for impact. And I (possibly falsely) believe impact mostly comes from the professional pillar. This belief is probably fuelled by 80,000hours, who state that ones career will be that with which one will create the most impact. I would love to do great things. To do lasting good in the world. I am constantly searching for what “good” is, and how I can contribute towards it. Lastly, I feel like my phase in life (I’m 27, recently graduated, loving relationship, no kids) is perfect for some focus on professional growth – where possibly later I can refocus more on family.
4. Don’t put to much weight to my use of the word ‘deliverable’. For me, this word means having some output that can easily be read back. So this can still be anything: a document, a presentation, a song, a website, …. As long as it can be read back and, without context, immediately be understood.

Did this answer your questions?

Response

Also, given your interest in impact and the search for “good,” would you find it valuable if the reflection structure incorporated elements that help examine your definition of impact beyond the traditional 80,000 Hours career-centric view? This could help ensure your North Star aligns with your fullest understanding of impact, rather than just the professional dimension.

Yes, this helps tremendously. Your answers reveal several important themes:

1. You’re driven by impact and meaning, with a thoughtful consideration of life phases
2. You want both reflection (memoir) and direction (North Star)
3. You’re wrestling with the philosophical question of what “good” is and how to contribute to it
4. You have a pragmatic approach to work-life balance while recognizing this might be a unique time for professional focus

Before proposing a structure, one final question that I think is crucial: When you mention “wrapping up and storing the year nicely” – what were the most significant moments, decisions, or changes in 2024 that you’d want to make sure are captured? This could help us ensure the reflection structure doesn’t miss key elements of your journey.

3rd shot: Answering its final question

Prompt

Significant 2024 moments

• December 31 2023: submit master’s thesis
• Feb 1: start first full-time position at Dembrane
• Mar 7: turn 27, organise birthday party
• March: Thesis defence
• Apr-May: First public speaking opportunities as Dembrane member
• Jun: Holiday to Norway with Lotte (my girlfriend)
• Aug: completed my first hire
• Nov: first international solo business trip to Athens
• Dec: moved to private office

Search for the good

I don’t expect to define what the Good is in this 2 day reflection. However, having some space where I can roughly state what Good means, to me, right now, seem beneficial to me. And yes, I want this definition to be holistic, and not solely having a career-centric view.

Response

Also, I notice this is quite comprehensive – we can certainly prioritize or modify sections based on what feels most valuable for your 1.5-day timeframe. What’s your initial reaction to this structure?

Thank you – this timeline gives excellent context, and I appreciate your realistic approach to exploring “the Good.” Let me propose a reflection structure that weaves together your needs while building on proven reflection practices:

Proposed Reflection Structure

Part 1: The Story of 2024 (Looking Back)

1. Narrative Timeline
   • Expand your timeline with emotional and learning context
   • Identify themes and patterns across the year
   • Capture “invisible” growth moments between the major events
2. Multi-dimensional Impact Review
   • Professional Impact (Dembrane achievements, leadership growth)
   • Relational Impact (relationships deepened/changed)
   • Personal Growth (skills, mindset shifts)
   • Contribution to “the Good” (however you defined it throughout the year)
3. Framework Check-in Using your 5 pillars:
   • Where did energy flow naturally?
   • Where did you face resistance?
   • Which pillars supported or hindered each other?

Part 2: Present State Reflection (Where You Are)

1. Current Definition of “the Good”
   • Your working hypothesis of what matters and why
   • Sources of meaning in your life
   • Tensions and uncertainties you’re holding
2. Resource Inventory
   • Skills/capabilities developed
   • Relationships and networks built
   • Energy sources and drains
   • Available opportunities

Part 3: Future Orientation (Looking Forward)

1. North Star Development
   • Synthesizing insights from Parts 1 & 2
   • Articulating your direction of growth
   • Identifying potential paths of impact
2. Implementation Framework
   • First practices to implement
   • Priority-setting principles
   • Balance maintenance strategies
   • Check-in mechanisms

Would you like to start with any particular part of this structure? Each section can be approached through various methods (writing, visualization, structured questioning), so we can adapt the approach based on what resonates most with you.

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I used Claude, an LLM by Anthropic.

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Seems all a bit too elaborate, but you do want to review your year?

I can recommend https://yearcompass.com/. It’s a fillable PDF with amazing year reflection questions, and can be completed in 2-3 hours. Click here to directly download the pdf.

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✨ daily direction

Skip this for now: Do this last, after all other when your whole review is filled.
13. To conclude the review and wrap up this initiative: here put the piece of text/drawing/something else that you think will remind you of your direction to grow.
I’ve simply put my North Stars + Theme + Motto. But maybe you work with North Stars + a song, or something completely different. As long as it can guide you.

Review part 1: The Story of 2024 (looking back)

📖 My Narrative

1. Start by recall all that happened in your past year through the process of making lists.
I chose to make lists in the following categories, but any list works, as long as it makes you remember and store what all happened the past year.

• 🗓️ Year in events Go through your calendar and list 1-5 events per month that defined that month the most to you
• 🖼️ Year in images Solely going through my calendar didn’t give satisfying insight in what I did throughout the year. Additionally going through my photo’s of last year was what gave me the feeling of fully remembering all the things that happened last year.
• 📓 Year in journal entries Go through your journal entries and select the ones that spark joy when reading back. I ended up selecting ~2-4 per month.
• 📚 Year in knowledge intake What did I read? What did I listen to? What did I watch? Creating this list helped me see clear patterns in my interests over the year.

2. While creating these lists, I wrote a summary of my year in 1 paragraph above the lists.

💥 Impact Review

3. Concisely list the growth, achievements, and impacts you made last year

Professional Impact

(professional achievements, impact, and growth as a professional)

Relational Impact

(relationships deepened/changed)

Personal Growth

(skills obtained/developed, mindset shifts)

Contribution to “the Good”

(however you defined it throughout the year)

🌲 Holistic Balance

Using your 5 pillars:

• Where did energy flow naturally?
• Where did you face resistance?
• Which pillars supported or hindered each other?

4. Reflect on the questions above and concisely write your insights.
The pillars require some more context to understand. See My personal religion. If this doesn’t make sense to you/you don’t feel like doing it, you can safely skip the pillar structure.

Review part 2: Where I Am (present state)

🌈 My Definition of The Good

5. Why are you doing all this effort – Why do you care?
I think that in order to find purpose, one needs to define what one is working for. What’s the most fundamental purpose to you? Why are you even doing this reflection?

🥷 Resource Inventory

6. Who are you right now?
If someone would pick your character in a video game, what skills would that character have? Don’t be afraid to state the obvious! Most skills feel normal to the people that have them. This is aimed to be a fun exercise that can be looked back upon in years to understand how you’ve grown.

💫 Sources of Joy

7. What makes you happy?
What do you like working on without any purpose of goal – but simply to enjoy the process? If you think for a moment, there is more then scrolling and watching series 🙂

Review part 3: Aiming 2025 (looking forward)

✨ North Stars

8. What do you want to aim for?
What are your North Stars that, throughout the year, guide you in what direction to do work?

🏹 Implementation/Operationalisation

9. Finally, summarise it all with a theme and optionally a motto.
A theme should be strong and only a couple of words. For a motto I suggest something that inspires you and makes you giggle. Let’s keep it light 🙂

Theme

(your theme)

Motto

“(your motto)”

New practices

10. What new practices are you going to implement that help you grow towards your North Stars?

Discontinuing practices

11. Very little comes for free. If you’re going to implement new practices, somethings you need to let go of. What will you let go of?

Rough year planning

12. What will your year look like?
What is a rough sketch of your ideal week or month? (Make sure to leave plenty of empty space for rest and general life.
Can you already map some big events? When do you roughly want to take holidays? Are there other big events that can already be mapped?

Appendix: Learnings while writing this reflection

Place to jot down anything you’re observing while writing this reflection.

Now move back up to conclude it all with writing down your daily direction. Hope it gave you direction!