The turn of the year is traditionally a time for reflection and planning. But let's be honest: how often do our New Year's resolutions actually stick? How many goal-setting exercises end up forgotten by February?

Hindsight-Foresight offers a different approach. Instead of rushing into goals and resolutions, this workshop guides you through a deep, structured process that helps you make sense of where you've been and envision where you're going. This is not happening through willpower alone, but through understanding, story, and identity.

This isn't a typical goal-setting exercise. We've combined proven coaching methodology with futures thinking techniques to create something more sustainable: a narrative-based approach to personal development.

Stories, Not Goals Most year-end reviews focus on what you achieved. This workshop asks different questions: - What story did you live this year? - What story do you want to live next? Research shows that narrative-based future visioning creates more sustainable motivation than goal lists. When you can see yourself living a vivid future – what a meaningful day feels like, how you show up for others, what matters to you there – your actions naturally align with that vision. You're not forcing yourself toward goals; you're becoming the person who would naturally choose those actions.

Developed by Debora Hofmann (ICF-certified coach) and Johannes Kleske (critical futurist), this workshop brings together two powerful frameworks: - Person-centered coaching that honors your lived experience and helps you access your own wisdom - Futures thinking methodology that helps you imagine possibilities rather than predict certainties The result? A process that feels both grounded in your reality and open to genuine transformation.

Here's what's innovative: You'll work through this workshop with an AI as your thinking partner. But this isn't about letting AI tell you what to do. We've carefully designed prompts that train the AI to: - Ask you powerful questions (not give you answers) - Reflect back what it hears, helping you see patterns you might miss - Guide you through the structure while respecting your pace - Hold space for your reflection without judgment - Create a first draft of your story based entirely on what you share

The workshop unfolds in four distinct phases, each building on the last:

Phase 1: Looking Back – The Year That Was This isn't about making a list of achievements. Instead, you'll explore: Emotional hotspots: The moments that carried charge – joy, anger, grief, surprise The roles you inhabited: Were you the problem-solver? The caretaker? The observer? How did these roles shape your year? World events that touched you: Not everything that happened in the world, but the things that got to you What patterns emerged: What themes keep showing up? You'll work with timeline exercises, role exploration, and reflective questions designed to help you see the full picture of your year – not just the highlight reel.

Phase 2: Harvesting – What to Carry Forward, What to Leave Behind Now you'll distill your reflection into insight: - What do you need to carry forward from this year? - What have you learned about yourself, about what matters to you? - What do you need to let go of – not as failure, but as completion? - What griefs need to be named? What celebrations have you skipped over? This phase helps you separate noise from signal, so you're not just accumulating experiences but actually learning from them.

Phase 3: Looking Forward – Creating Your Story Here's where futures thinking comes in. Instead of setting goals, you'll: - Sense the bigger picture: What does the world need from you? What does your body, your relationships, your work need? - Build your story from building blocks: Not abstract wishes, but concrete elements – roles, relationships, daily rhythms, places, values - Create a vivid narrative: The AI writes a first draft of your story for the coming year – in first person, past tense, as if you're looking back on a year well-lived This is where the magic happens. The AI takes everything you've shared – your roles, your values, your hopes – and weaves them into a coherent narrative of 300-400 words. This isn't the final version. It's a mirror. You'll read it, notice where it tingles (resonance, excitement, maybe slight fear), notice where it feels wrong, and refine it together until it feels true.

This isn't fantasy – it's using imagination as a tool for clarity. When you can feel a future you want to inhabit, motivation becomes natural rather than forced.

Phase 4: Embodying Your Future Self – From Story to Action Finally, you'll ground your vision in identity and action: - Who do you need to BE to live that story? (Not just what you need to DO) - What does this future-self value? How do they make decisions? - What's ONE concrete, specific step you can take soon? - How will you remember and reconnect with this vision? You'll leave with both a compelling vision and a practical next step – bridging aspiration and action.

This is a core innovation of the workshop. After you've shared your building blocks for the future, the AI generates a complete first draft of your story: - 300-400 words - First person, past tense ("Looking back on this year...") - Specific everyday moments - How things felt, not just what was achieved - How you showed up for others - Only using what you mentioned – never adding things This first draft matters because: - You see your scattered thoughts as a coherent story - It creates an emotional "mirror" effect - You can react to something concrete Then you refine it together: - Where is there a "tingle"? (resonance, excitement, maybe slight fear) - Where is there resistance? (feels wrong, forced, not you) - What's missing that you expected? - What surprised you? The AI adjusts based on your feedback until the story feels genuinely yours. This iterative process ensures you end up with something that resonates deeply, not just sounds good.

When you purchase Hindsight-Foresight for €15, you get a complete, self-guided workshop in a zip folder containing:

1. The Guide (PDF) Your roadmap to the entire process. This explains: - How the workshop is structured and why - How to work effectively with AI as a facilitation partner - Technical setup for ChatGPT or Claude - Tips for getting the most out of each phase - What to do if you get stuck or overwhelmed -Special considerations for neurodivergent participants 2. Facilitator Prompt (for your AI) This is the "training" for your AI guide. Upload this first, and it teaches your chosen AI tool how to facilitate the workshop using person-centered coaching principles and futures thinking methodology.

The AI learns to: - Ask one question at a time (not overwhelm you with lists) - Listen actively and mirror back what it hears - Notice patterns across your answers - Hold space for emotions without trying to fix them - Never rush you through exercises - Generate your story using the Strawman + Refinement method 3. Workshop Guide (for your AI) The detailed structure of all four phases, with questions, exercises, and transitions. This ensures the AI guides you through the complete process without you having to think about what comes next. Suggested time: 90-150 minutes, but you control the pace completely.

4. Resources (PDF)

Optional supplementary material you can either: - Upload to your AI for additional context and depth - Use yourself as reference and inspiration (includes emotion maps, frameworks, example stories) - Return to after the workshop for continued reflection Everything is designed to work together seamlessly while giving you flexibility in how you engage.

This workshop is designed for reflective professionals who: - Want more than surface-level goal-setting - Value depth over quick fixes - Are open to working with AI as a thinking partner - Have 2-4 hours to dedicate to meaningful reflection (you can split this into two sessions) - Are ready for insights that might be uncomfortable as well as inspiring - Want to start the new year with clarity, not just enthusiasm You don't need any prior experience with coaching, futures thinking, or extensive AI use – the materials guide you through everything.

Time Plan for 2-4 hours of focused time. You can do this in one session or break it into two: - Part 1: Hindsight (reflecting on the past year) - Part 2: Foresight (creating your story for the coming year) The AI will never rush you. There are no time limits.

Space A quiet place where you can think and reflect without interruption. This work can get emotional – privacy helps.

Technology A paid subscription to an AI tool is strongly recommended: ChatGPT Plus/Pro or Claude Pro We recommend the paid versions for two crucial reasons: 1. Uninterrupted sessions: Free versions have strict limits on messages and file uploads. You may run out mid-workshop, breaking your flow at a critical moment. 2. Privacy: This is sensitive personal work. With paid plans, your reflections won't be used as training data. Both ChatGPT and Claude work well, though Claude tends to be more emotionally attuned and less likely to rush or over-optimize.

Mindset - Openness to honest self-reflection - Willingness to sit with uncertainty - Curiosity about what might emerge - Look for the "tingle": That feeling when something resonates – excitement, slight fear, "I don't know if I dare want this." If something feels slightly uncomfortable, you're probably onto something important.

Speaking your answers (using your device's dictation or the AI's voice feature) often works better than typing. When you speak, your responses tend to be more personal and unfiltered – closer to how you actually think and feel. Try it, especially for the deeper questions. This transforms the workshop from a writing exercise into a genuine conversation.

This workshop explores grief, disappointment, and difficult emotions. For most people, this is safe and valuable. However:

If you have experienced recent trauma, are in active crisis, or have a history of dissociation, please consider doing this workshop with a trusted person nearby, or working with a therapist instead.

If you feel overwhelmed during the workshop: - You can pause or stop at any time - What you've done so far is valuable - The AI is programmed to never push you to continue - Consider reaching out to a crisis helpline in your country For neurodivergent participants (ADHD, autism, or other): - You can set your own time limits if open-ended feels difficult - You can ask the AI to be more concrete instead of metaphorical - You can skip exercises that don't work for your brain - This workshop is for you – adapt it as needed

Getting started is straightforward: 1. Download your workshop files (you'll receive a zip folder with all four files) 2. Choose your AI tool (ChatGPT or Claude) 3. Upload two files to start a new conversation: - 2-FACILITATOR-PROMPT.md (trains the AI how to guide you) - 3-WORKSHOP-GUIDE.md (contains the workshop structure) 4. Send a message: "Please read these files and begin the workshop." 5. The AI will start with an opening message and guide you through Order doesn't matter – you can upload the files in any sequence.

If file upload doesn't work: You can copy-paste the contents of both files directly into the chat. Open 2-FACILITATOR-PROMPT.md, copy the entire content, and paste it as your first message. Then copy 3-WORKSHOP-GUIDE.md and paste it as a second message. Tell the AI: "These are your instructions. Please begin the workshop."