Do you currently have a daily self-reflection practice? If you’re reading this post, my guess is you may not, but are intrigued to know how something as easy sounding as “self-reflection” can build confidence. It was a surprise to me too. However, as I fully committed to making this daily practice a habit, I began to see positive impacts in every area of my life, not just my confidence.
What Is The Definition Of Self-Reflection?
First, let’s level-set.
By “self-reflection” I mean taking intentional time to objectively consider, ponder, and seriously think about my behavior, thoughts, attitudes, wants, needs, and motivations.
It’s the time I take out of my day to consider my day, where I can gain clarity and make decisions on my next steps. The keywords in all of the above is that it is “intentional” time spent “objectively” reviewing something about myself.
Intentional meaning I have a choice of how to spend my time and I choose to spend time on this.
Objectively meaning that I attribute neither “good,” nor “bad” to anything; I just observe.
Now that we are on the same page and understand what self-reflection is, it’s time to roll out the red carpet for self-reflection itself.
How Does A Self-Reflection Practice Help Me?
Taking the time to self-reflect and look upon your day with an objective eye gives you more clarity to the truth in the situation. It allows you to separate facts of what happened from your opinion of what happened (which is largely informed by your emotions); this is essential for staying in learning mode, which is required for a growth mindset.
And yes, there is data to prove that! Research done with contact center agents found that employees who spent 15 minutes at the end of the day reflecting about lessons learned performed 23% better after 10 days than those who did not reflect. Imagine how much you can learn from doing this very same activity, every day.
The more you begin to see yourself and the more you begin to witness the growth over time, the more confident you will become. It is amazing how easy it becomes to move through obstacles and to set boundaries. However, the key here is consistency.
You must make a daily self-reflection practice a consistent part of your day (hence the “daily”).
You have to make the choice to show up for yourself every day. Even if it’s 15 minutes. Even if it’s 15 seconds (I won’t judge you if you won’t judge you). Show up and spend some time in self-reflection. I am excited for you to meet yourself!
Are you ready to give yourself the gift of confidence? Get started today with 8 days of self-reflective prompts sent right to your inbox.