One of the keys to making the most of ideas is developing the ability to reflect. Reflect means to go back over; to study again. Go back over your notes. Go back over your thoughts. And go back over your day.
There are some particularly good times to reflect. One is at the end of the day. Take a few minutes to go back over the day. Whom did you see? What did they say? What happened? How did you feel? What went on? By answering those questions, you capture the day. Every day represents a piece of the mosaic of your life. You need to capture the experience, the knowledge, the sights, the sounds, the panorama, the color, and the emotion so it will serve you well for the future. Don’t miss a day.
Then take a few hours at the end of the week to reflect. Go back over your calendar; go back over your appointment book. Ask yourself the same questions. Where did you go? Whom did you see? How did it feel? What went on? Capture that week. A week is a fairly substantial chunk of time.
Next, take half a day at the end of the month to reflect. Follow the same process. Go back over what you read. Go back over what you heard. Go back over what you saw. Go back over your feelings and capture them so that they serve you.
Finally, take a weekend at the end of the year to establish the year firmly in your consciousness so that it never disappears.
The Old Testament describes a unique scenario that unfolded according to the law. At that time, people worked for nine years, and the tenth year was a sabbatical. That tenth year was probably used for relaxing, replenishing, getting in shape physically. We would call it a “change of pace” in modern society. But that was not the only objective for the tenth year. I (Jim Rohn) am sure that, in ancient days, sabbaticals were used to go over the previous nine years, to see what went right and what went wrong, what worked well and what didn’t work well. People would ask themselves, “How did I grow? What did I learn? How did I change? What do I have now after nine years that I didn’t have at the beginning?” That time for reflection is what makes a sabbatical so effective and meaningful.
At times, you’ll want to reflect with somebody else. A husband and wife can reflect on the past year together. Parents can reflect with their children. Colleagues can reflect with each other.
But you’ve also got to learn to reflect by yourself. Solitude is a powerful force. We all need to find some occasions to shut out the rest of the world for a while.
I’ve got a motor home and a motorcycle. That’s how I find solitude. I head for the mountains and ride the trails where there are very few human beings. Or I go out into the desert somewhere. It’s my time to get away. When you live a very public life, you treasure solitude. When I have a chance to reflect alone, I go back over my life, go back over my skills, go back over my experiences. There are some things you need to do alone, such as ponder, think, wonder, read, study, and absorb new ideas. Decide how you can become better this year than you were last year. Enjoy your solitude.
Life is full of experiences–touching and seeing and looking and doing and acting–but you’re going to lose the lessons of those experiences if you don’t take the time to reflect.
We can all learn to gather up the past and invest in the future. Gather up today and invest it in tomorrow. Gather up this week and invest it in the next week. Gather up this year and invest it in the next year. Many people simply hang on one more year. They are just hanging in there, seeing what’s going to happen. I am asking you to choose a different path, to learn, study, and reflect. This is a major part of personal development: the quest to become better than you are now.
* Source: Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn