The experience of this year has been a really strange one. 2020 so far feels like it has dragged on but has also flown past at a rapid rate full of chaos, disruption, heartache and complexity.
A friend and I were talking the other day about what we thought we had achieved in the past six months. Interestingly, we had to remind each other of our achievements. For my friend it was a matter of home schooling two children and scoring an A and A+ on assignments (the kids efforts of course!) whilst keeping up with the expectations of her work and being a mum, wife, friend, sister, daughter and the rest. What she has achieved is incredible and she remains sane!
However it was when she said, “I just don’t get time to think about this and reflect on what I am doing because everything is happening all at once” that really got me thinking.
Right there is the dichotomy of this year – the feeling we can do nothing because we’re very restricted but the fact we are still doing a lot!
The lesson for me in this is the importance of creating the sense of calm for yourself so you can think clearly and reflect on what you are doing. In my friends case, it was through going for a walk and leaving everything at home, because let’s face it for many of us in Victoria, everything we do and are is at home. It gave her the space to be able to think and reflect without expectation.
How do you create your sense of calm?
For me this is when I am exercising, especially when I am walking, and also through my 10 minute nightly ritual of reflection where I ask myself three questions:
- What did you achieve today and was it in line with what you wanted?
- How can you make tomorrow better?
- How were you as a leader and what do you need to be aware of?
Ok there are probably five questions there but you can see where I am going. This is my effort to increase my self-awareness around what I am doing and how I am being.
This is also my opportunity to be calm and check in with where I am at. Sometimes the responses to these questions are not what I would like and often I am ok with that considering what is going on in my world right now. Other times, I’m not ok with the responses and I have the opportunity to improve tomorrow.
The important thing is to give yourself that time to breathe and know what works for you. Enable yourself to breathe deeply and think clearly – it’s a gift – especially now.