Developing a habit of reflection
How do you organize your thoughts and prioritize your ideas??
Most high-achieving, ambitious people will have more ideas than they can possibly execute in one lifetime.? Knowing which projects to pursue and having greater clarity on how to spend your time is no easy feat.? This is one of the many reasons that my daily reflection habit has been invaluable in my quest to live an intentional, purposeful life.
Prior to joining the Boston Consulting Group, I served as a Research Associate for Professor Leslie Perlow, Harvard Business School’s Senior Associate Dean of Research.? In this role, I interviewed 120+ HBS alum on how their lives unfolded after business school.? Reflection was a common theme in those conversations.
The insights gained from these alumni chats helped create an elective course at HBS called “Crafting Your Life: The Tactics and Practices of the First 10 Years Post MBA.”? While working alongside Professor Perlow and a group of my HBS MBA peers, I chose reflection as my core focus area given the tremendous benefits I had personally experienced over the years.
Given there is not a single approach to reflection, every person stands to gain from setting aside time to design their personalized process.
In hopes of providing inspiration for people who want to develop their habit of reflection, here is the ritual that I have created over time:
1.? Carve out time each morning to reflect prior to checking emails, social media, and news
My thoughts first thing in the morning are the most pure representation of what is top of mind and important.
As soon as I check email, social media, or the news, my thoughts get filled with content that other people deem important.? Avoiding these outside influences allows me to keep my head clutter-free as I think about my priorities.
2.? Separate reflection content from your to-do list
There is a difference between making time for reflection and creating a task list for the day ahead.?
Every morning, during my effort to reflect, my mind naturally gravitates toward action items that I need to accomplish that day. Although this is important, it is not the objective of this dedicated reflection time that will help me keep the bigger picture in mind.
I keep a separate notebook for to-do list items that pop into my head during this morning reflection. I write out these tasks as a way of clearing my mind so that I can then be in the right headspace to begin my true reflection.
3.? Examine what you write each morning alongside your Life Map
After I have written down my reflection for the morning, I then compare what I wrote to my Life Map, which is a one-page document that summarizes all the things that are most important to me.?
The Life Map file serves as a powerful reminder of the people, topics, and goals that I want to keep top of mind. I compare the reflections that I write to what is included in my Life Map every day as a way of ensuring alignment between my focus on a daily basis relative to what I aspire to concentrate on over the long term.
When I see a discrepancy between what is on my mind during these daily reflections vs. what I had previously described as my aspirations, this highlights an area where I need to invest additional thought in order to close that gap so that I can live a purposeful life.
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This exercise leaves me with an ideal mindset to tackle my day with the confidence that comes from knowing I am being intentional about how I spend my time.?
4.? Review your thoughts every night before sleeping?
The reflection that I write each morning serves as a nice reminder of what is important to me before I go to bed.
To wind down for the night, I turn off all my technology, go for either a walk or swim to clear my mind, shower, crawl into bed, and review the daily reflection I had written in the morning alongside my Life Map.
Doing so fills my mind with positive reminders that are important to me prior to drifting off to sleep.?
5.? Repeat every day
Making morning reflection a daily habit maximizes the benefits that I get from this investment of time.
Clarity around how I want to live my life comes with consistently seeing the same themes pop up in my reflections over and over again. Like every healthy habit, I will only see the benefit of this exercise once I am able to successfully reflect regularly.
“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.
- Peter Drucker, Austrian-American management consultant, educator, and author commonly regarded as a founder of modern management practices.
Related content?
Link | Article - Developing your personal mission statement
Link | Recorded Zoom Event - Developing your personal mission statement
Link | Collection of written articles and recordings of past open-invite Zoom conversations
Link | Full list of upcoming open-invite Zoom conversations
Impact enabler | Performance & Leadership Coach | People & Ops Generalist | For entrepreneurs & businesses leading the change and breaking the rules | Podcast Host, Public Speaker
3 年Great advice Triston! I particularly like the comparison with the life map. Sometimes, we forget to reconnect with the picture of what we want our life to be and doing that comparison can avoid any misalignment that could make us unsatisfied!
Consultant @ LanciaConsult | Digital Transformation | Business Strategy | Fintech Implementation
3 年Great piece! The advice is really helpful in boosting mindfulness and being intentional in our everyday. Thank you ??
Helping Organizations Develop Their Leaders - Leadership Facilitator, Keynote Speaker, Podcast Host
3 年Triston Francis Love the actionable advice and that you also practice this. Additionally, that class you mention at HBS sounds awesome! One of the mental models that I think about is the ratio of "thinking vs doing" - you need to do both, but the thinking/reflection piece helps you learn so much and informs what you decide to "do" next. Thanks for sharing!