Time For Reflection
"The words we choose and then we use, create our future!" Ray Ellis
Well it is never the perfect time for reflection but there should always be time to reflect!
A friend sent me an email and she spoke about how her life has gone through several transitions this year. What she found fascinating was that it seemed to change depending on the quarters of the year! She also mentioned her accomplishments for each quarter. That motivated me to write this post.
As we start the 4th quarter of the year, this might be the perfect time to see how we are doing. It seems to me that at the start of the year we are so excited, have more energy, and hope to "spring forward". Do you feel the same way? By the 3rd quarter some of that energy might have been lost just getting here. This is a good time to "fall back". By this I mean looking back at what you have accomplished so far this year. We often forget all of the great things that have happened, all of our successes, and all of the people we have inspired by our actions. It can sometimes feel like we haven't accomplished anything and that could not be further from the truth. Celebrate your success so far no matter how big or small.
Now think about what you have left to accomplish this year and use the renewed excitement and energy to far exceed your own expectations!
This is so easy to do that we often ignore doing it. Take time to slow down so you can speed up! You will be happy you did!
Oh and when the time comes, don't forget to fall back and change your clocks back one hour later this month.
Thanks for reading. I welcome your comments.
Ray Ellis, Master Solutionary at The Center for Dialogic Leadership, LLC is a consultant, dynamic facilitator and speaker. His is working on writing short stories of his experiences titled "Inside Up...from the Shop Floor to the Ninth Floor and Three more to Go!"
Thanks for this article Ray: it's always good to get a nudge such as this. In an educational environment, at this time of year, (Autumn/Fall) we are moving into the "new year" and actually it is a great time to reflect on the previous year! Of course at various points during the academic year we are required to (and tend to want to) reflect on what we have been doing. At certain prescribed points during the year we will propose alternate curricular content, timetables and practices for the following year based on our active reflections, but the reason I'm pleased to reread this article now is because we do often forget to congratulate ourselves. Today happens to be the deadline for my MA students - the final submission of the year: their major reflective report. As with previous students, I will be delighted to congratulate each of them on completing the year and I'm sure I will be swept along in the "hand-in high" (that elation so commonly felt on completion of a task) however, because of this article, I will also take a couple of quiet moments to tell myself "well done" too. Thank you, Ray, and by the way, well done!
Excellent thoughts! For those of us in the field of Organization Development (OD) we are reminded to be mindful by being self reflective, to look within ourselves, prior to helping a client with their challenges. By reflecting on your own behavior and noticing how your perception might influence others positively or negatively, will help you to realize your role is to help the client help themselves. Nancy Zentis, CEO of Institute of OD, www.instituteod.com