How To Do An Honest Review of Your Life
Personal Reflection: The Tool For Reaching Your Maximum Potential & How TO Do it.
What if there is a way to optimize our time?
What if there is a configuration of our time and schedules that will allow us to make the greatest impact and contribution with our life on earth?
These are the questions I’ve been asking. Not because I want to become superhuman, but because I cannot bear to live a life that is less than what my soul knows I’m capable of.
“God give me a reason to wake up. give me something that will make me leap out of bed with the joy, exuberance and enthusiasm that I know I can have.”
For months I've been hovering over my Google Calendar, tweaking my morning routine, afternoon routine and everything in between in an effort to find the perfect flow in a day. I've been dreaming of what it would be like to work in a job where every day, I am pressed to contribute something meaningful that only I can do. I want a reason to show up.
I love that sense of urgency. That feeling of getting the finished product out fast, accurately and efficiently.
I remember what it was like when I was livestreaming in the heart of the refugee crisis on Lesvos, Greece in 2016. I got a taste of what it must be like to be a war journalist. There, I knew that I was providing a lens into this world event that no one else was providing: a chance to see and interact with refugees and volunteers and aid workers, all from my cell phone with the help of the livestreaming app, Periscope.
It was a high-intensity situation. I remember wishing that I could edit video faster and better. Then I’d be able to churn out videos for people to share and see. (The livestreams did not provide the best video quality.) At that time, my video skills were not that level yet, so I had to be ok with live streaming.
Yet there was a deep, abiding sense that my work mattered.
This is what I want in life, and this is why I continue to reach ever forward for my most impactful and meaningful life. I want to know when I look back on this year that I did my absolute best to make, produce or spread the kinds of messages that I feel like the world needs and that only I can produce, with my particular way of seeing the world.
What’s on your heart? What wants to be created through you? Honestly, I think we all long for that state of heightened awareness that comes from living life to the max. I believe it’s possible and available to all of us - if you are willing to do some internal investigation.
In order to get the kind of clarity that allows you to pour your soul energy into, this is going to require honest self-reflection, the kind of self-reflection most people don’t want to do. It means keeping Netflix off. It may mean saying no to a social get together, taking a personal day off or getting out of town, but it’s worth it. You are created to be someone with vision. This kind of personal reflection is like a chisel that clarifies the path forward for you because you’d taken the time to look at the map. This requires radical honesty with yourself, but I know you’ve got it in you!
True. People can make it through life without this kind of self-reflection, but my experience has taught me that life is 100x richer when I make time for reflection. Let's Dive in.
How To Do A Personal Reflection & Get Clarity On Your Life:
We are going to look at 4 pillars in life: values, time use, money, gifts
Be Honest about your Values.
What is genuinely important to you? What are your values? Do a quick google search and you’ll find lists of values like: Authenticity, Achievement, Adventure, Authority, Autonomy, Balance, Beauty, Boldness, Compassion, Challenge, Citizenship, Community. Once you’ve identified your top five, write them out and put them somewhere you can see easily. They will become a filter for how to make other decisions in life. Ideally, you want to work in a company where your values match their values. Building a life that aligns with your values is like putting a square peg into a square hole. This energetic and spiritual alignment makes all the other pieces world.
Be honest about how you are using your time.
Learn about Time Management to understand where you are letting opportunities slip through your hands. As I sit in my bed writing this at 5:30am, I am still amazed that it’s possible for me to be writing at this hour, and I’m so grateful that I took the effort to figure out how I could integrate more writing in my life. In 2018, I think I produced 1 or 2 blogs, and a handful of Instagram posts. In 2019, I will easily have written more than 40 blogs by the year’s end. For me, it’s not about the number of blogs. The change happened because I knew I had something I could give, but unless I figured out how to use my time differently, I would never get around to writing. I had to be honest and say to myself, Anita, you’re not living up to your potential. How can we change this? Time is your primary resource. We cannot change anything without time. Look honestly at how you are using your time and where you are wasting it.
Be honest about how you’re using your Money.
In addition to time, how are you using your other gifts and resources? How are you using your money? I’ve written a 5-part series - on money, to dive deep into it. Living in the first world, we’ve been given access to so much money. Are you using it to its maximum potential? If you are here, I know that you’re not the kind to squander thousands on frivolous things. So where could you put that money so that it makes the greatest contribution to your life and to the world? I don’t mean just donating to charity. It means putting the money where it is most meaningful to you, whether that’s supporting local businesses, organic farmers or children’s charities. I believe that God put certain desires to help inside every soul. Individually, we cannot solve all the world's solutions, but when we each a bit of love and passion into the causes that tug at our hearts, the whole tide changes.
Be honest about how you are using your gifts.
If you are over the age of 5, you have an inkling of what you’re good at. You might even have blazing, in-your-face clarity of what you’re good at. Maybe you already make a lot of money at what you’re good at. Money itself is not an indicator that you are using your gifts to the maximum potential. Write out things that you want to be good at! Tune in, pray and ask God about what’s in your destiny? What are you created for? Make lists of your gifts and talents - the things that come naturally to you. Make a list of your skills - the things that you’ve learned. Make a list of the things that find a natural passion and enthusiasm for, even if you’re not good at it (yet). Make a list of what you have a hunch you could thrive at. Between these four lists, you will start to see where you have opportunities to maximize your gifts.
With this personal reflection, you have pivoted. You cannot unsee what you’ve seen. You know where you can change and this is power! Next up, integrate these reflections in your life.
Here is a video I made outlining the process I used to change my life in 4 months: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqANfCNBwno&t=272s
I hope that you find this process helpful. I do a lot of personal reflection and it’s immensely improved my life, my happiness and my contributions. And it’s probably saved me thousands in therapy. (Although, I’ve heard great things about therapy too!)
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Thank you so much for reading! 💛 Your presence here means a lot to me, and to the world. Thank you for sharing in this journey with me.
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