I just returned from a personal retreat where I did some much needed self-reflection. In Bill George's book "True North," he lists 5 top issues that can pull you away from your "true north" as a leader. One of those [issues] is the lack of self-awareness or self-reflection. I love this quote by Bill George on the subject:
Here are a few things I jotted down in my moleskin of how I can best make self-reflection happen in my life:
I have the habit of doing self-reflection periodically, and this retreat offered me that opportunity, but I'm finding that it needs to be more frequent than that. To be the very best leader that I can be I need to consistently check myself in the mirror - and I'm not referring to vanity here. Checking your motives, use of power and platform, etc. are things that are of the upmost importance as you lead. Sometimes we need others to be that mirror for us - because we personally don't have the full capacity to see ourselves as others see us.“Because the desire to influence others is always fraught with the danger of illusion and the power to control, self-reflection is required to unmask our own pretensions, to purify our motivations, and to spur us forward in true humility.” - Bill George
Here are a few things I jotted down in my moleskin of how I can best make self-reflection happen in my life:
- Post a quote (perhaps Bill George's quote above) somewhere visible (bathroom mirror?) that will remind me of the importance of self-reflection.
- Asking those closest to me for candid, constructive feedback at least once a week.
- Take time weekly (even 15 or 20 minutes) to reflect on areas that need improvement and develop action items for improvement.
- Regulary journal in my moleskin thoughts, feelings or takeaways from my conversations with others and my self-reflection.
- Spend time in confession and prayer (commit to prayer areas of weakness and goals for personal growth.)
What others would you add to this list? How are you doing with self-reflection?
[(visit my friends at Theme Thursday)]
Labels: Church, Leadership, Personal, Theme Thursday
I'd add the classic, "Wherever you go, there you are" and also "Everything goes better with bacon"...those are important...
Silence and solitude are hard to do, but unplugging from tech and just listening is a healthy discipline that I need more of.
I always ask for honest feedback, especially on stuff I put out in the open.
Analyzing a "this sucks because..." comment is almost always more productive and self-revealing than basking in those "oh, you're so good at (whatever)" comments.
Does that make sense?
Hhmmm...you ever try writing future letters
to yourself?
Just write a letter to yourself addressed to you for a day for 365 days and you get to open the letter
and do exactly what you are suppose to do in the letter... for instance, when you write the letters , you may feel you need certain things in your life
or even resolutions, only put them as letters to your future self and you must DO EXACTLY as what your letter said.
Then, you can REFLECT on your wants/needs.
You get me?
I am really bad in explaining this. Hope you get it.
Mine is here
http://justmeshakirack.blogspot.com/2010/02/mirrors-of-my-life-thursday-theme.html
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
and
GONG XI FA CAI!
(means WISHING YOU PROSPERITY! in Mandarin, Chinese)
hugs
shakira
@VE - you know how i love bacon.
//TC//
when i was on staff at the church, we had one day dedication each month to recalibration. i thought this was great to allow time for self assessment. the key was accountability...