The Secret Step You Are Most Likely To Skip In Your Personal Development Journey

In the current fast-paced world, it can be easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of our day-to-day lives without taking a moment to pause. Many people wake up to the sound of their alarm, jump out of bed and head straight into their working day, only to come home exhausted after a long day and relax on the couch for the evening, while wondering why they aren’t making progress and achieving their goals. Amid this chaos lies a very powerful tool that can transform both our personal and professional lives... reflection.

This practice, which is often overlooked, is crucial for personal development, achieving your goals and improving your overall wellbeing. Reflection is the process of examining and contemplating your thoughts, actions and experiences and should be incorporated into your weekly routine so you can gain insight into your habits and routines, fostering a greater understanding of your journey. Reflection requires you to dedicate time to sit down with yourself and your journal, taking a step back from everyday life to analyse your goals and your actions.

Reflection is not just a new year activity...it should be completed every single week! If you have ever felt lost or at a lull in life, this is totally normal and part of the ebb & flow of life. But, consistently reflecting, re-evaluating and re-assessing your goals is a powerful practice which will help you ensure your goals remain meaningful and attainable, keeping you motivated every day.

Why YOU need to reflect regularly...

Laser-Focus

Imagine knowing the exact actions that propelled you towards success and those that held you back from achieving your goals... Well this is possible! As you reflect, you will understand the habits that enabled you to become the best version of yourself, as well as those that prevented you from achieving all that you have ever wanted.

This will allow you to laser focus on your goals and make better decisions, ensuring you are actively working towards the bigger picture every day.

Identify areas for improvement

Where did you slip-up? What can you alter? Did you set the goal of bringing lunch to work every day but failed after the second day? Why? Was your grocery shop not optimal? Did you not give yourself enough time to prep your lunch? How can you make this adjustment next week to achieve this goal?

As you reflect on the week gone, you will identify the areas in which you could improve upon to propel you towards your goals. If you didn’t take the time to sit down and think deeply about your recent actions, you are likely to repeat the same mistakes over and over again, remaining stagnant.

Gain Perspective

When you begin to doubt yourself and your progress, sometimes all you need is a perspective shift. It can be easy to get wrapped up in your everyday life, without coming up for air, and this is often when life begins to feel overwhelming. You might finish the week thinking you haven’t achieved anything, when in reality you hit your step goal every day and saved the exact amount of your salary you had planned on saving! By jumping out of the everyday, you will experience a clearer vision and gain a different perspective on your current happenings. This will help rewire your thoughts for the upcoming weeks and easily identify your small wins!

It can also reduce stress as you gain clarity on situations that hold a lot less weight than you originally thought.

Remember:

Motivation

Reflecting and acknowledging your small wins will help boost motivation to continue working on your goal. This reinforces the belief in your ability to succeed. As you tick off a goal, or even a step towards achieving the bigger goal, you are re-affirming that you are succeeding and capable of achieving your goal. This will work wonders for your mind and you will experience subtle shifts in your mindset as you believe you can have everything you have ever wanted.

TOP TIP: By breaking your goals up into smaller, manageable tasks it is easier to measure your progress and reflect and fine tune your process along the way.

Increased Self-Awareness

When reflecting it is so important to be honest with yourself, nobody else has to know! When you reflect on your thoughts and actions, you will identify moments where you could have done better. Did you notice limiting beliefs? Did you tell yourself you’re not good enough? Once you acknowledge these unhelpful behaviours, you have the power to transform them into positive and empowering actions.

Equipped with the knowledge of how to improve, how to alter your behaviour in accordance with your learnings and the habits that enable you to become the best version of you, you will be unstoppable in achieving your goals. Knowledge is power, and YOU can use this power to create meaningful and long-lasting change.

Reflection is not just the process of looking back, it is the catalyst to your learning and personal development. Reflection is more than celebrating your wins, it has the power to transform your journey. It is the key to seeing substantial change and growth.

TOP REFLECTION TIPS:

Reflect every single week on the week just gone in The Head Plan Journal.

Approach your reflection with an open and non-judgmental mindset. Be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses.

Make sure you follow your reflection with amendments! There is no point making the same mistake twice. Alter your method, review your system and re-align your actions.

Make an action plan for the week ahead. Armed with the knowledge of the habits that enabled you to thrive, incorporate more of these into your weekly plans. Play to your strengths, curate your morning and evening ritual and avoid your distractions!

Take note of your highest point of the day every day in The Head Plan Gratitude Journal and reflect on these high moments. Were there any patterns? Incorporate more of these ‘feel good’ moments into your weekly plan for optimal fulfilment and happiness.

The good news is, you don’t need to make big, earth-shattering changes to your routine! It’s about small, manageable tweaks... easily done through reflection.
This is the key to growth... keep learning, keep expanding and keep growing.

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