When writing your year-end review, the hardest part isn't the "writing" — it's the "remembering." What exactly did I accomplish this year?
Digging through emails, chat logs, and calendars, piecing together a summary. Even worse, many truly valuable accomplishments get overlooked simply because you can't recall them.
With the FLO.W Notion Template, you can transform your annual review from "racking your brain to remember" into "following the map to extract" through conscious recording throughout the year. This tutorial is divided into two phases: Beginning-of-Year Setup and Year-End Extraction.
Two-Phase Overview
| Phase | Timing | Core Actions | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beginning-of-Year Setup | Start of year / Now | Establish recording structure, build recording habits | Leave traceable footprints of your daily work |
| Year-End Extraction | End of year | Filter, compile, assemble | Quickly complete your annual review |
If you're already mid-year or even near year-end, don't worry — starting to record now is better than having nothing at all.
Phase One: Beginning-of-Year Setup
The goal of this phase is: Let your daily work leave traceable footprints in FLO.W Notion template.
Set Up Work Areas and Projects
First, ensure your work content has a "home" in FLO.W Notion template.
If you don't have a work-related sub-Area yet, create one. Examples: "Main Job," "Primary Work," or simply your company name.
For concepts and creation methods of Areas, refer to Area Organization.
Create Projects for important work content. Not all work needs to become a Project, but the following types are recommended:
- Work with clear deliverables (product launches, report outputs, event planning)
- Work spanning more than a week
- Work requiring multiple Tasks to complete
From the top navigation bar, enter the Project center. In the Project Category - Work view, create a new Project and link it to your work Area.
Create an "Annual Work Highlights" Note
This is the core of the entire method: Create a Note, and add content to it throughout the year.
In the Homepage Dashboard, click the Note Tab, then click the New button to create a Note
Name the Note "2026 Annual Work Highlights" (or any name you prefer)
Throughout the year, whenever the following situations occur, open this Note and add a record:
- Received positive feedback: Boss's praise, customer thanks, colleague recognition
- Achieved quantifiable results: Saved X hours, improved X%, completed X items
- First-time achievements: First time independently responsible, first cross-department collaboration, first time mentoring newcomers
- Solved difficult problems: Problems that troubled the team for a long time were solved by you
When recording, use @ mentions to link to the original Tasks or Projects. This way, at year-end you can click through to see the full context.
Make This Note Easier to Access
To quickly find this Note throughout the year, here are two tips:
- Check "Frequently Used Note": In the Note properties, check the "Frequently Used Note" checkbox. This Note will then appear in Top Navigation → Notes → Frequently Used Notes page for centralized display
- Add Star Bookmark: Add a star to this Note, and it will appear in the "Favorites" section of the left Sidebar for one-click access
Example: Good Highlight Records
✅ Q1 completed supplier negotiation, saved 15% on procurement costs → @Supplier Negotiation Project
✅ Independently led new employee training, received HR praise → @March New Employee Training
✅ Solved data sync issue that troubled the team for two weeks → @Fix Data Sync Bug
✅ Led Product 2.0 launch, 92% user satisfaction rate → @Product 2.0 Project
✅ First time as main speaker for department sharing → @Tech Sharing Session PrepEach record doesn't need to be long — one sentence plus one reference is enough. The key is spending 30 seconds to record it now, rather than 30 minutes trying to recall it at year-end.
Periodic Reviews: Capture Missed Highlights
Even with an "Annual Highlights" Note, you'll inevitably forget to record things on the spot. FLO.W Notion template's built-in Weekly Review and Monthly Review features can serve as a supplementary mechanism to help you regularly review and capture missed content.
The Value of Weekly Reviews
From the top navigation bar, enter the Review center, where you can see the Weekly Review and Monthly Review modules.
When creating a Weekly Review, the Template automatically pulls Tasks and Projects completed this week, so you don't need to rely on memory — you can directly see what you accomplished this week.
The Weekly Review Template uses a "Facts → Feelings → Findings → Future" structure:
| Dimension | Core Questions |
|---|---|
| Facts | What key Tasks/Projects were completed this week? |
| Feelings | When did you feel efficient/pleasant? When did you feel pressured/inefficient? |
| Findings | What did you learn from this week's experiences? Any patterns or insights? |
| Future | What improvements can be made next week? What to stop/start/continue doing? |
How to Combine with Annual Review
When doing weekly/monthly reviews, the content recorded in the "Facts" section is your annual review material.
Recommended approach:
- Spend 10-15 minutes every Friday doing a Weekly Review
- When you see content in the "Facts" section worth including in your annual review, copy it to your "Annual Highlights" Note
This way, even if you forget to record things on the spot, you can recover highlights through Weekly Reviews. With 52 weeks of accumulated reviews, your annual review materials will naturally be complete.
For detailed information about Periodic Reviews, refer to Periodic Review.
Task Naming: Add Results When Completing
Besides actively recording highlights, there's another low-cost good habit: When completing a Task, spend 10 seconds adding the result to the Task name.
Comparison Examples
| ❌ Generic Naming | ✅ Result-Included Naming |
|---|---|
| Complete report | Complete Q2 Revenue Analysis Report (cited by director in weekly meeting) |
| Contact supplier | Contact new supplier, negotiated 15% discount |
| Fix bug | Fix payment flow bug, reduced complaints by 30% |
| Prepare materials | Prepare bid materials (won bid, amount ¥500K) |
| Meeting | Led cross-department coordination meeting, pushed Project restart |
At year-end, scanning your Task list, Tasks with results immediately show their value, while generically named Tasks are completely forgettable.
Milestones: Record Major Achievements
When you complete something truly worth celebrating, you can create a Milestone under the corresponding sub-Area.
Events suitable for recording as Milestones:
- Promotions, raises
- Successful launch of important Projects
- Landing major clients, closing big deals
- Receiving company-level recognition or awards
- Completing an important "from 0 to 1"
The difference between Milestones and "Annual Highlights" Notes:
- Milestones are formal "badges," recording major achievements worth remembering
- Annual Highlights Notes are daily material collection, with a lower threshold and more casual
For detailed information about Milestones, refer to Milestone.
Phase Two: Year-End Extraction
At year-end, you don't need to rack your brain remembering — just extract existing content from FLO.W Notion template.
Open Your Material Library
If you maintained records throughout the year, you should now have these material sources:
| Material Source | Content |
|---|---|
| Annual Highlights Note | Highlights recorded throughout the year |
| Weekly/Monthly Review Records | The "Facts" section from each week/month |
| Completed Projects | Project list and their outcomes |
| Task List | Tasks with result descriptions |
| Milestones | Major achievement records |
First, open your "Annual Work Highlights" Note — this is your most direct material library. Click @ mentions to view the full context of each highlight.
Enter the Review center, browse the year's Weekly and Monthly Review records, particularly focusing on the "Facts" section of each review.
Based on annual review requirements, mark or copy the content you need.
If you maintained records throughout the year, your problem now isn't "nothing to write," but "what to choose" — a happy problem to have.
Fill in Gaps: Filter Completed Projects
Even with the above materials, there might be gaps. Filter completed Projects to check for missing items.
Enter the Project center
Use the Filter function to filter out Projects completed this year (by completion date or Project schedule)
Browse each one, checking for Projects worth including in your annual review but not recorded elsewhere
Fill in Gaps: Scan the Task List
If you developed the habit of "adding results when completing Tasks," the Task list is also a material source.
Enter the Task center or view Tasks in the Homepage Dashboard
Filter this year's completed Tasks by time
Quickly scan through, finding Tasks with "result descriptions" in their names
Milestone Summary
If you recorded Milestones under your work Area, now is the time to compile them.
Enter your work-related sub-Area page and view the year's Milestone records. These are the "highlight moments" in your annual review, usually the most value-demonstrating parts.
Map Materials to Annual Review
Now you have abundant materials. Next is mapping them to each part of your annual review:
| Annual Review Section | Material Source |
|---|---|
| Main Work Achievements | Completed Projects + Highlights Note + "Facts" from reviews |
| Quantified Performance | Highlights with numbers + Tasks with results |
| Capability Growth / Personal Development | "First-time" records + "Findings" from reviews |
| Team Contributions | Collaboration and helping others records |
| Next Year's Plan | Ongoing Projects + "Future" from reviews |
With these materials, writing your annual review becomes "assembly" rather than "creation."
FAQ
Related Features
- Project Management - Learn complete Project features
- Task Properties - Learn Task property settings
- Area Organization - Learn Area organization methods
- Milestone - Record major achievements
- Periodic Review - Detailed information about Weekly and Monthly Reviews
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