Self Reflection

The Greek philosopher Socrates said the unexamined life is not worth living. If I reverse this phrase, it reads something like self reflection makes life worth living. And that is so true because self reflection or introspection reveals a lot about ourselves. Researchers have shown that we think more than 50,000 thoughts per day, of which more than half are negative and more than 90% are just repeats from the day before. So if you don't make the time and effort to refocus your mind on the positive, you won't give yourself the opportunity to grow and develop. Self reflection is impactful. Knowing yourself will help to strengthen your knowledge and won't allow you to get pulled by feelings so easily. Here are 12 reasons to practice self reflection. 1. Pattern recognition. If for most of our life we've not spent time on self reflection, the result are unrecognized and self deviate that defeating patterns. Number two. Self reflection slows us down. It is inherently built into the reflection process and in our fast paced lives that is a good thing. Number three. You gain perspective. Emotions can cloud our judgment, cloud problems, and issues seem bigger than they really are. Number four. Self awareness. Making a meaningful contribution requires that we know the power of our talent and the defeat of our weakness. 5. Self reflection improves decision making. Clarity of thought and awareness of our true values allows us to make decisions that put us on the most optimal path to greater well being. Number six. Clarity of thought. After introspection, our mind is not clouded anymore. Number seven. Correction. We may realize that it's time to apologize for words spoken or actions taken. And if we don't like ourselves, let's change and not do it again. 8. Improve performance. Research demonstrates that employees in a call center, for example, who spend 5015 minutes at the end of the day reflecting about lessons learned performed 23% better after 10 days than those who did not reflect. Number nine. Authenticity. Self reflection leads to feelings like discomfort, vulnerability, defensiveness and irritation. And that might just be the real us. Number 10 integrity. Having a clear understanding of the values we deem most important puts them at the forefront of our minds and strengthens our decision. 11. Return on investment. It may not always be visible to us, but there is a return. Think of the call center example earlier. And lastly, number 12, better sleep. Self reflection brings closure to unresolved items leading to better sleep. I look at this list and for me it makes the time and effort for self reflection so worthwhile.