Let me ask you a question…
Where do you see yourself 12 months from now? How about 5 years? 10 years? When you imagine this future version of yourself, what is different?
Hopefully something!
That’s not to say the “you” of today isn’t already fantastic, but my hope for you is that your vision of your future self includes growth and change! Whether personally or professionally (or both), I hope you always have a desire to learn more, grow more, stretch more, and experience more.
You see, forward momentum is a good thing!
It’s what keeps us energized and motivated in life. It’s in pursuing growth that we become better versions of ourselves, a little bit at a time.
In order to grow as a person, you’ve got to take hold of the reins of your own life. You have to choose to lead yourself.
What does this look like? Well, to put it simply:
To lead yourself, you must get real with yourself.
Self-leadership begins with self-knowledge. So, my friend, it’s time to take a long, honest, and non-judgemental look in the mirror. As you dive deep into this important process of getting real with yourself, here are a few fundamental principles to keep in mind:
- Be HONEST in your self-assessment.
Every person has strengths. Every person has room for growth and improvement as well. That’s just a fact of life. The more transparent and honest you can be with yourself about BOTH your unique gifts and strengths and your weaknesses and blind spots, the more impactful your reflection will be.
Tip: Give yourself a little bit of time for this exercise. A good, in-depth self-reflection takes more than 5 minutes. You may choose to block off a larger chunk of time (an hour or two) for some in-depth reflection and journaling, or you may find it easier to dedicate 10 or 15 minutes each day for a week to this reflective work.
- There is no room for judgment, shame, or condemnation.We don’t take time for self-reflection so that we can pick apart each of our flaws or shortcomings. On the contrary, the goal of self-reflection is awareness and growth. Plain and simple! As you reflect on your life, resist the urge to criticize yourself (or others). It is neither kind or helpful. (Really, would you berate your child or best friend?)
- Celebrate your gifts.You are good at things. There, I said it! There are things that you do exceptionally well, perhaps better than most! It’s okay to acknowledge, and, dare I say, celebrate the strengths you possess! These unique qualities will be invaluable tools in your growth journey. Own them! Use them! Celebrate them!
- Acknowledge your blind spots.Everyone has blind spots. We all have areas in life where we could use some extra direction or support. Areas we don’t know well, skills we don’t possess, or feelings we avoid acknowledging. Ignoring our blindspots is like ignoring a massive pothole on the road. You could try…but you’ll likely bang your car up along the way. Remember: Acknowledging the areas of growth in your life isn’t about being critical of yourself. Rather, the goal is to identify potential or perceived obstacles so that you can work towards finding solutions to these challenges in the future.
- Be detached in your observation.
This is a data-collecting activity…that’s it! For the sake of this exercise, we are observing, not acting. As you do this exercise, you may feel the urge to immediately fix or change any problems or challenges you uncover.
Don’t. (At least not yet.)
Sure, part of being a self-leader is the ability to turn self-reflection into a concrete action plan for growth. That’s important! HOWEVER, if you jump straight to action when the first challenge arises, you may unintentionally cut your self-appraisal short and miss out on further insights that could be gleaned from further reflection.
Let this time be what it is. Self-reflection. No more, no less.
As you spend some time getting to know yourself, pay special attention to how your “inner voice” typically speaks to you throughout the day. Do you have an inner-critic constantly critiquing your every move? Or perhaps you’ve got a cheerleader encouraging you in each new step you take? Share your thoughts in a comment below this post…truly, I’d love to hear them!
Article was contributed by: Maria Lees, Team Writer with Sarah Boxx
