Doing Vs Reflecting

In the very busy life I have, how much time do I give myself for personal reflection?

I have all these plans.

I want to do well at my work. I want to grow as a person. I want to learn new skills. I want to see new places. I want be a good parent etc.

To realise these plans, I have to DO. I have to take action. Actions deliver results.

Will the results match my own expectations- This is determined by the quality of my actions.

My thinking in many ways shapes the intensity and quality of the action I take.

I wish I had a built in “Application” in my mind, that lays out all my life goals and schedules what actions I have to do or take every moment in my life. Unfortunately, there is no such tool. Time just flows by, if I am not mindful and aware of its passage.

The secret to being in control of my life therefore lies is in the discipline, to give myself the time and space every day to reflect and renew my progress towards my goals. Daily reflection is a process that in some ways does the role of the “App” for my mind.

Personal reflection is the thinking process that determines the effectiveness of the life I am living. When I am reflecting I take a pause from any sort of overt action to simply sit back and ask myself a few important questions. I do this daily.

• Did I make the most of the day. Did I do what I set out to do?
• Whom did I meet?
• Where did I go?
• What actions did I plan and how did I do on those?
• What actions did I plan but did not execute?
• How was my emotional state, how was my energy?
• What could I have done differently, so that my day could have been more productive towards my goals?

I then write my reflections-observation of what my own mind gives out as answers- in my daily journal. I acknowledge the good stuff I did yesterday and renew my plan and commitment for the work to be done in the day ahead. In this process, I also get ideas and insights about anything I could do differently.

There a Confucian saying I love. “To know where you are today , you need to  know where you were yesterday. To know where you want to go tomorrow, you need to know where you are today”

The process of Daily Reflection is the wind that powers the actions I take every day !!