Make 2025 Your Best Year Yet With This Ritual

Verresen’s annual ritual begins by mapping the year month by month using a calendar, photos, and notes. She says this counters recency bias and helps people notice milestones they might otherwise forget. Connecting those accomplishments to when they set their goals can reinforce the experience of following through.

After mapping the year, Verresen suggests reflecting on who you became, which strengths helped you through challenges, and which qualities you want to bring forward. Her goal-setting exercise is to write a letter from December 31 of the coming year, describing what went well as though it has already happened. She recommends aiming for a future that feels energizing, rather than scaling a real desire down in advance.

Verresen describes inner power as pausing to notice your state and what you need before responding. She identifies physical, emotional, mental, and creative energy as four areas to work with, and says brief actions can help shift a state. For example, one fellow danced for five minutes before a strategy meeting to ease anxiety; Verresen also describes using breathing and music when she felt stressed in traffic.

Verresen recommends checking whether a goal reflects your own desire and imagining what different futures would feel, look, and sound like. She shares Leah Belsky’s example: after exploring a possible role at OpenAI, Belsky pitched her dream job and later became the company’s first GM of education, as announced by Bloomberg. Verresen says imagining possibilities can help people explore options before committing to a path.

Verresen describes using ChatGPT voice to create a self-hypnosis story about waking up energized and open to surprises. She says the year-in-review added a “Better Than Imagined Fairy,” an AI tool intended to help participants explore possibilities and reflect on strengths. She also recommends celebrating small wins and taking a few minutes before meetings to check in and restore energy.