"One of my rituals at the end of the year is asking myself these forty questions. This list is modified from a set of questions posted by coppermoss on Metafilter"

"I find it to be one of the most valuable exercises to reflect on what happened, good and bad, and how I hope the year ahead will shape up."

"What is more interesting than each individual answer are the trends that emerge after years of answering the same questions"

"This is first and foremost a personal exercise, so make it a tradition you can enjoy for years to come. See also my 40 questions to ask yourself every decade."

"What did you do this year that you’d never done before?"

"What cities/states/countries did you visit?"

"What was your biggest achievement of the year?"

"What was your biggest failure?"

"Where did most of your money go?"

"What did you get really, really, really excited about?"

"What was the best book you read?"

"Which celebrity/public figure did you admire the most?"

"What valuable life lesson did you learn this year?"

"What political issue stirred you the most?"

"Who was the best new person you met?"