There was an interesting article that got me thinking.
It was on Entrepreneur and it was about how successful people often work fewer hours than most.
Kind of strange, right?
We live in a time where it seems a badge of honor to burn yourself out week after week.
Yet, many find success in life by working less.
Maybe they’re on to something.
One of the things mentioned in the article was Reflection.
The concept is about taking time each week to reflect. On life. On love. On business.
It’s something that seems less common today. It’s so easy to not want to sit and just think. We crave constant entertainment and a constant stream of information.
Our phones have fed that craving.
So it’s more important than ever to make time for regular reflection.
What Is Reflection?
The official definition in this context is serious thought or consideration.
We probably talk about reflection in other ways.
Mindfulness. Self-thought. All that kind of stuff.
The main thing is that you’re taking time to think. To do nothing.
No distractions. Nothing on the docket. Not being busy. Just existing. Thinking about the world. Thinking about life.
Trying to understand yourself and the world around you.
Paying Attention To Issues (No Burying, No Blame)
I don’t know if it’s on purpose, but it’s easy to kind of put issues away. Something happens to us and we kind of bury it.
Maybe it’s an important decision. Maybe it’s something we feel bad about. An important discussion that needs to happen with a loved one.
It could be lots of things.
We all have issues, large and small, in life.
It seems that well-balanced individuals are able to take time to think through issues. They’re not afraid to take things head on. They don’t bury them.
And they don’t blame others.
Reflection is about a lot of things and that includes considering your role in the world and the experiences you have.
We live in a time where it seems vogue to blame others. Blame the boss. Blame the president. Blame, blame, blame.
Reflection is about focusing on what happens in the world and what you control.
Big Picture
It’s so easy to get bogged down in the small things. It drives me nuts. It happens to me all the time.
The weather. A slight at work. A missed call from a friend.
So many little things can sap our attention.
Things that bother us and also tasks. We get bogged down in little things during the day. Work. News. Appointments.
Reflection allows us to focus on the big picture. It allows us to see what really matters in life. It allows us to think about what really matters to us.
And it allows us to consider what really matters in others. We don’t judge so harshly. We put ourselves in their shoes and we focus on the things we love and appreciate about others.
It also allows us to focus on what we want from life in the future. The big picture. Not just what we do every day.
Improvement & Change
Another important aspect of reflection is improvement and change.
It’s nearly impossible to change or improve if we don’t take time to understand what we’re actually doing every day.
As we’ve reflected on, it’s so easy to get caught in the trap of being busy. We do things all the time, little tasks at work and at home, that take up all our time. And we don’t really even think about why we’re doing them.
Giving serious thought to your life allows you to see what you might not be happy with. And if you see something you want to change or improve, reflection allows you to see the gap.
Many people say they want to eat better in order to lose weight. With reflection, you can more accurately see the gap in your current eating habits and what changes are really necessary to see the improvement you seek.
That’s true for many things including work, personal relationships and more.
How To Reflect
Steve Jobs loved to walk.
Ben Franklin was a voracious reader.
Thomas Jefferson liked gardening and playing the violin.
Hemingway was a hunter and outdoorsman.
There are many ways to reflect. You can sit in a room by yourself looking out the window.
You can meditate, focusing on your breath and your thoughts.
The main thing seems to be the idea of getting away.
Getting away from the busy tasks of the day and doing nothing. Maybe doing nothing that requires conscious thought.
I like to golf. It allows me to think about life in between shots. I hit maybe 85 or so shots in a round of golf. About 3.5-4 hours. That’s about 30-60 minutes of thought on golf and 3 hours of reflection.
But I also like to read. I find that reading is a form of reflection. I read about something and it sparks internal thought about the topic and my own life.
Conclusion
Reflection is kind of a lost art today. There are an incredible number of distractions that steal our attention.
And we do it to ourselves.
Yet we see that successful people make time to reflect. They make time to do nothing and to think about life and themselves.
If the best people are doing it, we know that it’s important for us all to do it.
