A Deep Dive into Our 2018 Year in Review: Your Guide to a More Successful 2019

As the calendar turns a new page, the air is filled with a unique blend of reflection and anticipation. The new year is here, and it’s the perfect time to look back before we leap forward. Throughout the past twelve months, a whirlwind of events, challenges, and triumphs has shaped our journey. So, we decided to put on our nostalgia glasses and conduct a thorough wrap-up of 2018. What were our biggest wins? Where did we face unexpected hurdles? And most importantly, what lessons can we carry into the new year to make it our best one yet?

We invite you to join us in this powerful exercise of retrospection. As we share our own experiences, take a moment to consider your year. Think about the highs and lows, the lessons learned, and the growth you’ve experienced. By the end of this review, we hope we’ll all unlock some crucial insights that will pave the way for a year filled with success, happiness, and meaningful progress. Let’s dive in and set ourselves up for an amazing 2019.

Why an Annual Review is Your Secret Weapon for Growth

Before we unpack our own year, let’s talk about why this practice is so incredibly valuable. An annual review isn’t just about listing accomplishments; it’s a strategic process for personal and professional development. It provides a structured opportunity to pause and gain perspective. In our fast-paced lives, we rarely stop to analyze our trajectory. A year-end review forces us to do just that. It helps you celebrate your victories, no matter how small, boosting your confidence and motivation. It also allows you to confront your failures in a constructive way, transforming them from sources of frustration into powerful learning opportunities. This clarity is essential for setting realistic, impactful goals for the future, ensuring that you’re not just repeating the same patterns but actively designing a better path forward.

Celebrating the Wins: What Went Well in 2018?

For our team, 2018 was a year of significant growth and refinement. One of our proudest accomplishments was the complete redesign of our website. This was a massive undertaking that involved rethinking our entire user experience to make our content more accessible and engaging. We also focused heavily on improving our team dynamics and workflows, which allowed us to produce some of our best content yet. Videos like “The Most Powerful Way to Remember What You Study” and “How to Stop Being TIRED All the Time” resonated deeply with our audience and reaffirmed our mission to provide actionable advice for students and learners.

On a personal level, many of us focused on building consistent, positive habits. For example, some of us took on the challenge of improving our health, inspired by videos like “How Much Water Should You REALLY Be Drinking?” and experimenting with healthy routines like our ultra-healthy breakfast smoothie. Others dedicated time to learning new skills. Whether it was diving into a comprehensive video editing course to level up our production quality or consistently practicing a new language with tools like Duolingo, these small, daily efforts compounded into significant progress over the year.

Now, it’s your turn. What are you most proud of from this past year? Did you land a new job, finish a difficult project, or learn a new skill? Did you strengthen a relationship, pick up a new hobby, or simply manage to get through a challenging period with resilience? Acknowledge these victories. Write them down and allow yourself to feel proud. These successes are the fuel that will power you into the new year.

Learning from the Setbacks: What Didn’t Go So Well?

Of course, no year is without its challenges. It’s crucial to look at the areas where things didn’t go according to plan, not with judgment, but with curiosity. One of our biggest challenges was managing the sheer scope of our ambitions. We had countless ideas for new projects, but we learned that our resources and energy are finite. Spreading ourselves too thin led to moments of burnout and projects that didn’t receive the attention they deserved. We learned the hard lesson that saying “no” is just as important as saying “yes.”

There were also personal struggles. For Martin, a serious mountain biking accident served as a stark reminder of mortality and the importance of balancing ambition with well-being, a lesson he shared in “3 Things I Learned Almost Dying on a Mountain Bike.” Habits we tried to build sometimes faltered, and goals we set at the beginning of the year were sometimes left unmet. It’s easy to feel discouraged by these moments, but they are where the most profound growth happens. These setbacks taught us about our limits, our priorities, and the importance of course-correcting when we veer off track.

Think about your own year. Where did you struggle? What goals did you miss? Was there a habit you couldn’t make stick or a project that failed to launch? Don’t shy away from these reflections. Ask yourself: What did this experience teach me? What was the underlying cause of this setback? Understanding the “why” behind your challenges is the first step toward avoiding them in the future.

Forging Ahead: What We Want to Accomplish in 2019

With the lessons from 2018 in hand, we are looking toward 2019 with renewed focus and intention. Our primary goal is to double down on what works: creating high-value, in-depth content that genuinely helps people. This means focusing our energy on fewer, more impactful projects rather than chasing every new idea. We also want to continue fostering a healthy and sustainable work culture for our team, prioritizing well-being alongside productivity.

Personally, our goals are diverse. Thomas is aiming to dedicate more time to his music, a passion project he has been nurturing on his music channel. Martin is focused on continuing his journey in illustration and design, making his work available through prints. Many of us are recommitting to language learning, using a combination of powerful tools. For learning Japanese, for example, a robust system might involve using TextFugu for grammar, WaniKani for mastering kanji, and Satori Reader for improving reading comprehension in a real-world context.

What about you? Based on your review of the past year, what do you want to achieve in the next one? Don’t just think about what you want to *do*; think about who you want to *become*. Do you want to be more knowledgeable? More healthy? More creative? More connected to others? Use these aspirations to craft specific, actionable goals. Perhaps it’s finally learning that skill you’ve been dreaming about. Platforms like Skillshare and Brilliant are fantastic resources for this. Skillshare offers thousands of courses on everything from video editing to graphic design, while Brilliant helps you sharpen your problem-solving skills in math, science, and computer science. Or maybe your goal is to get your finances in order by learning from experts like those at Smart Passive Income and Listen Money Matters. Whatever your goals, write them down and break them into small, manageable steps.

Your Journey Starts Now

A year is a long time, composed of thousands of small decisions and actions. By taking the time to review it, you honor the journey you’ve been on and empower yourself to make the next one even better. We hope our own transparent look at 2018 has inspired you to conduct your own review. Celebrate your wins, learn from your losses, and set clear, meaningful intentions for the year ahead. Here’s to a happy, healthy, and incredibly successful 2019!

Listen to Our Full 2018 Review Conversation

If you enjoyed this article, you can hear our full, unfiltered discussion on the podcast. We dive deeper into the specifics of our year, sharing personal anecdotes and lessons learned along the way.

Episode Timestamps:

0:02:59 – The state of the team, the website redesign, and other business updates
0:27:33 – Sponsor: Brilliant (Learning problem-solving skills)
0:29:42 – Sponsor: Skillshare (Learning new skills)
0:31:40 – A detailed look at what went well in our lives and what we improved on
0:51:58 – An honest discussion about what didn’t go so well
1:07:16 – Our primary goals and what we want to accomplish next year
1:09:52 – Final thoughts and conclusion

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes! It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure. You can also leave a review!

Resources Mentioned in this Article

This episode is sponsored by:

Brilliant: Accelerate your learning in math, science, and computer science. Start learning for free and get 20% off your subscription.
Skillshare: With over 20,000 courses, Skillshare can help you take your skills to the next level. Get started with 2 free weeks of unlimited learning.

Other helpful links and tools we discussed:

Martin and Thomas’ 2017 Year in Review (Ep. 191)
How Much Water Should You REALLY Be Drinking?
The Most Powerful Way to Remember What You Study
How to Stop Being TIRED All the Time
How to Study Effectively with Flash Cards
Thomas’ Impossible List
Jordy Vandeput’s Premiere Pro course on Skillshare
Duolingo (iOS | Android)
TextFugu
WaniKani
Satori Reader
Martin’s Prints
3 Things Martin Learned Almost Dying on a Mountain Bike (Ep. 229)
I Replaced My Breakfast with This Ultra Healthy Smoothie
Tom’s music channel
Smart Passive Income
Listen Money Matters

Want more cool stuff? You can find all sorts of great tools at my Resources page.