15 Minutes on Sunday Night could dramatically change your life. That's like one third of your Netflix show, how can that be a long time? Grab a cup of tea, light a candle and let's reflect.
There is this huge misconception that reflection has to be this huge intricate time of answering a an eternal questionnaire and writing ten pages worth of your thoughts. In reality you can make it as simple or as complicated as can be. My weekly reflection, for instance, takes about 10 minutes to complete, and has improved my life by an unmeasurable amount.
What is so life changing about answering a few questions? Well, in essence, it allows you to go from being living a reactive life, to living a proactive one. (Being in control and ahead of the game, instead of reacting to everything life throws at you)
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash.
The Practice
I try to do this as habitually as possible: always sit in comfortable spot, pour myself a cozy drink, light a candle and open my reflection questions. I do this so that my brain will "automatically" get in thinking mode and it'll be easier to actually reflect on these questions and not only answer them to check the "Weekly Reflection" box of my Sunday To-Do List.
I divide my review into two categories: Life and Goals and for each one I ask myself only 4 questions.
Life
What are my wins for the week? Some examples could be the tings that've accomplished, the amazing things that happened to you, your daily highlights, an obstacle the you overcame.
What not working? Think about the tiny little things that are bothering you, crippling my productivity, the things that you need to change to make your life a little bit easier.
What am I avoiding? Consider the things you might be procrastinating on. If you can identify why you've been avoiding these things and think of a solution.
What loops do I need to close? This comes from the idea that when you think of something to do or an idea and you don't deal with it its stays as an "open loop" in your brain, which means that subconsciously your brain is trying to deal with it and close that loop. This is where I do a brain dump of all the little things I have to do.
Goals
What progress did I make towards my goals this week? Think about the milestones you achieved and the tasks you completed that bring you closer to your goal.
What can I do next week to get closer to my goal? What is the next milestone you can work towards?
What do I wish I were doing more of? This refers to anything really. Think about the things that you keep wishing you had more time or motivation to do. In the long run you'll be abel to notice patterns and make the changes accordingly.
Am I on the right track? In general, in your life, are you in the path to your life vision. Are you becoming the person that you want to be?
Now What?
Do something about it! Plan accordingly.
You can check out the Youtube Video that goes with this blog post to get a bit more detail on what each question means to me and how I include this in my plans for the upcoming week.
You can also download my weekly reflection template here.