- What went well this year?
- What did not go well this year?
- What things should I do more of this coming year?
- What things should I do less of this coming year?
And so on.
I also write down a list of "themes / priorities for the coming year". High level stuff, not task level TODO items.
And I keep the document open on my laptop and review it every so often as a reminder to keep focused on the important stuff. It's hard to quantify but I think it does help.
I'm intrigued by the idea of adding some of these items to my retrospective for 2025, which I will probably do tomorrow.