Time to Pause, Reflect, Plan

In the day-to-day crush of life and work, few of us take time to pause and reflect.  Mindful reflection helps you to think through your activities, things that have happened in your life, and the relationships that are most important to you.

Pause for just 5 minutes to ask yourself:  what am I noticing about myself, my actions, and reactions, and about others and our interactions? Ideally, take some notes in your journal or on your phone. Writing down your thoughts and ruminations brings greater clarity to them.

Reflection gives you the opportunity to think about what worked, what didn’t work, and what to do differently next time. Asking some basic questions will help bring focus to your priorities going forward.  What do you want?  Why do you want it?  What is it you don’t want?

When you take time to pause and reflect, it makes your future plans more realistic and achievable.  Create a plan for the priorities you have identified by establishing what has to be done by when and by whom. It helps to determine what additional resources you will need to support your efforts, including training and development of additional skills, and people who can assist you in the process.

I’ve created some questions that help me reflect and plan.  I use this list any time I need to gain clarity about the path forward, and the end or beginning of the year seems like the perfect time to think about this.

If you could use some help thinking through the year past and the year ahead, I offer it to you here:  

Year End Review

As always, I appreciate your feedback on this list.  What did you find most helpful? What other questions would you add?

And do share this with anyone who could benefit by taking time to pause, reflect and plan.