Long term success is the result of a series of consistent wins. Whether it is in your personal life or professional career, “overnight success” is actually the product of many consistent small victories and good choices that led to a big win.
When you set goals for yourself and are driven to succeed, it can seem as though you must work relentlessly towards the end result, not stopping until you reach the finish line. While in some regards this is true, it is important to allow yourself
time for reflection along the journey.
Why is reflection such a crucial part of success?
It allows you to take a break. Often, when people are pursuing their goals, they focus so hard on reaching the target that they fail to give themselves time to recharge. Reflection is an effective way to hit the pause button and take stock of what’s going on around you.
You are able to track your progress. When you pause to reflect, you take note of both where you started and where you’re going. Are you on the right track? Are you still moving forward in the right direction? Do you have what you need to move to the next step? As you evaluate your growth, it allows you to make course corrections to ensure that you stay on target.
Reflection helps you
analyze your victories. Reaching milestones is an exciting part of goal-setting, but can sometimes get lost in the push to the end of the goal.
Reflection gives you time to analyze and celebrate the smaller wins along the way. What did you do right? How can you leverage that success in the future? Can you duplicate the process again for even greater success? Reflection gives you time to consider the framework used for your current successes and determine if you can follow the same pattern.
Reflection is an effective post-mortem strategy. You don’t win every time. Even the most successful people have losses, the difference is what you do after the loss. Use reflection as an opportunity to learn from your loss. What went wrong? How can you improve the outcome by making changes? Where can you improve the process? Learning from your mistakes is crucial to growth and reflection allows you time to analyze what went wrong.
Reflection reminds you of your purpose. It is easy to get caught up in the rush to success. Reflection gives you the chance to remember why you started the journey in the first place. With a renewed sense of purpose, you’ll be even more motivated to work towards your goal.
Your goals may be audacious. By taking time to reflect, you’ll realize that while you’re not there yet, you have already made gains. Take stock of where you started and how far you’ve already come, and then keep pushing forward towards even greater success. You can do this.
(Need a refresher course in goal-setting or how to effectively use goals in your life? We’d love to help. Contact
My Big Idea™ today for more information about our program.)
Michele Bailey is president and CEO of
Blazing Agency and
My Big Idea®. These two lines of business work congruently to support her clients’ success.
