As 2025 comes to a close, I think about all the New Year’s resolutions that I will make and break in record time. For me, there are better ways to try to enact change. One practice, in business or at home, I can make happen is having a closing reflection. In work sessions, having participants summarize the meeting or contribute one thing they felt was missing helps everyone find common ground. It allows for analysis and opens up topics for the next meeting.

On a personal level, anyone can use this same philosophy at the end of the year. My only issue is that I usually can’t summarize a whole year. I miss out on the small details and focus on the grand gestures. To make things easier, I try to find one good thing at the end of each day. With my kids, I would ask for one good thing during a car ride home, at dinner or at bedtime. We sometimes had to dig deep to find one good thing that happened. If one good thing was difficult to find, we would look for one beautiful thing.

The process isn’t new. Gratitude journals have been a practice for years. Although I’m not always consistent with finding the time to write for fun, I can certainly find time to jot down one good thing.

If you aren’t yet finding the good things, here are some easy ways to start. Give each family member a jar. Each person will tell one good thing, a fun event, a kind deed or a beautiful observation. Write it down on a slip of paper and put it in a jar. If you don’t want to write anything down, use your phone and take voice notes or make a quick video. At the end of the year, dump out the jar or edit the video notes together and reflect on the past. I like the physical act of writing something down.

There may be common threads connecting what we view as good. We will all experience challenging, overwhelming, underwhelming or joyful years. Reading, listening or watching a recap can help us remember that good things do happen, even in challenging circumstances. I know friends who use their “good things” to collage a vision board for the upcoming year. Most of the time, I realize my “good things” aren’t the lavish acts, but mostly show up as connections. It shows me what I value: family, health, a beautiful sunrise, the first snow, the last snow, nature walks and friends. However you choose to reflect on the closing of 2025 and welcoming 2026, I wish you only the good things.