Take Time For Personal Reflection

*Sigh*… Time for personal reflection. That almost seems like crazy talk in these crazy times when there’s not even enough time to get through all of your emails or spend some time with your friends and family. And I’m standing here on my soap box telling you to take some time out for personal reflection? I know. Now you’re probably thinking “well how much time,…maybe I can squeeze it in between dinner and going to sleep.” I am suggesting at least 1 hour a week. If you can make it the same day and time every week, even better! I know you can find at least one full hour of time that you can take out of your undoubtedly extremely busy life to sit down alone, avoid any distractions, and reflect on your life. So do it!

What should you reflect on? Good question! Here is a bullet-point list of the things you should always ask yourself during your personal reflection time:

• Did I spend my time wisely over the last week?
• What did I enjoy doing most?
• What did I dislike doing most?
• How could I have spent my time better/more productively?
• Am I making progress toward my life’s goals?
• What can I do next week to make progress on at least one of my major goals?
• How are my most important relationships going?
• How can I make them stronger and better next week?
• What is the most important thing I need to get done next week and how can I get it done quickly and well?

These questions will help to orient you in determining how you are doing in your life according to your own standards. It will also help you determine what you need to do in order to get back on track if you’re off track, or give you a head start on the next week to keep you going full speed ahead if you’re on the right track.

Any time you have left, you can use however you want. Just sit and relax, meditate, pray, read something interesting, listen to some music, draw a picture, whatever you enjoy doing and is relaxing for you would be a good choice.

Take some time to relax and reflect on your life each and every week for at least one hour. It’s like pulling into a rest stop, checking the map, and catching a quick bite to eat and a nap before getting back on the road of success. Do it. Enjoy it!

Perspective

Keeping things in perspective, specifically looking at different perspectives of the same issue is something that is very important to remember to do, but unfortunately it doesn't happen naturally. You have to consciously remember to do it, and when you do you will have not only a happier life, but also a more successful one because you will understand situations and issues much better.

You need to keep things in perspective or else you will misinterpret the actions of others and situations you find yourself in as well. Everyone is different and consequently, they have different ways of looking at situations and at the world in general.  Even if that difference is only a slight one - it makes a difference in how that situation is interpreted. Take for instance the case where there are 4 different people standing on each corner of an intersection where there is a car accident that occurs while the people are watching. If you ask each of those people what happened, you will get 4 different versions of the same situation because each person was looking at it from a slightly different angle or perspective. So the best way to get the truth about what really happened would be to put all of the stories together (the common elements) and then add in the parts that were different but that make the most sense after hearing everyone's version. That will leave you with the most realistic version of the truth about what happened and the best explanation of what actually happened so you will understand what really happened, rather than just one version of what happened.

This same method of looking at things from different perspectives should be used in our daily lives as well in order to better understand what truly happens and more importantly, why people see things differently. Next time you are in a situation that could be looked at in a negative way, stop, try to think of a different perspective that you could interpret the situation through and do that. Then put the common, most likely elements together and add in the parts that are different which make the most sense, and I guarantee that you will understand the situation better and be able to respond more effectively.

As you can imagine, it is especially important to do when dealing with a situation between two or more people. Always try to look at the issue being discussed from the other persons' points of view so that you will not only better understand the issue, but also better understand each person. You will have less interpersonal conflict, the conflicts you do have will not escalate as much as they normally would, and you will be seen as a more intelligent, caring, fair, and understanding person - which will only help to speed up your journey down the road of success!

Communication

If you are going to make a difference in this world and get things done on a larger scale than if you just did everything yourself, you will have to get good at communicating with others. All types of communication are important too, not just being able to talk to another person. If you have good verbal communication skills, but poor written communication skills then you will be severely limited on the things you can get done and the people you can influence in today's world of email, books, blogs, text messages, and tweets. If you are good at written communication, but not very good at verbal communication, you will be able to write great emails and reports, but when it comes time for you to preseent those reports or describe to someone what you want done, it'll be more than a simple challenge, it will be much more difficult for you to get done what you want to accomplish

I said before that all types of communication are important, this also includes non-verbal communication (body language) as well as other aspects of verbal communication that aren't normally thought about by most people. The way you stand, sit, walk, and breathe; the way your facial expressions show what you are feeling as you talk, your hand movements, tone of voice, inflection, volume (loud or soft); the pace of your speech, and the words you use (conversational or professional, jargon, technical words, slang, profanity, etc.) all effect how a person perceives what you are trying to communicate to them.

You need to consciously pay attention to how well you communicate verbally and in written communication, and practice it in order to get better at it,...and getting better at it is something that is absolutely necessary if you are planning on living a successful life in which you will need to communicate with and influence many people.

Think about it. Say you want to build a house for instance. Let's just say you already know everything necessary in order to build a house from the concrete foundation, to the wood framing, electical and plumbing work, drywall and masonry, painting, carpeting, heating and ventilation, etc. If you want to build one, you will need to either build it yourself or communicate with others to have them help you build it or build the whole thing for you. If you have to rely only on yourself in order to build it, it'll take you a heck of a long time, and will be very difficult or even almost impossible when it comes time to do things that require more than one person working simultaneously to do. But if you can communicate to others what you want done and how it should be done, then you can build a house in probably a couple of weeks easily! In order to communicate effectively what you want done, you will need to convey to the contractors what you want them to do and how much they will be paid for their work. You need to make sure they know what needs to be done which means you will not only have to talk to them, but also provide written documentation, drawings, and schematics. You also need to be able to answer their questions when questions arise or when situations or cirumstances change. This requires both verbal and written communication, and the better you are at each one, the more efficiently, quickly, and cheaply the house can be built.

This applies to anything you want to do whether it's something as simple as asking someone to fax a letter or send an email for you, something as complicated as building a house, or something even more complicated like a business! Get good at it, it's important!