We live in a fast-paced world with non-stop stimulus, and we an easily wake up one day and wonder where the last three months have gone. If you’re an entrepreneur, you know the days mix in and become weeks, months and sometimes years. We’re always on the go and rarely have time to stop. However, during the last few years, I’ve discovered an important truth that has transformed my life and business:
Reflection is as important as action.
If that sounds crazy, read the rest of this post where I introduce a practice that has transformed my life and countless others.
The Sunday Practice
Every Sunday afternoon, I take 30-60 minutes and begin a ritual I’ve been doing for nearly four years now. This process allows me to sum up my week, reflect, course correct and commit to what’s coming. I detailed this process in my first book, UnResolution, and people absolutely loved it. Here’s why this practice can transform your life, too:
By taking the time to be intentional, we begin to change the way we operate in our lives.
In other words, this sacred period of reflection empowers us and allows us to create both space and perspective in life.
Let’s dig in and get into the framework.
Where Did You Win?
The first part of the Sunday Reflection is all about celebrating wins. Last year, in my Mastermind Group, I challenged members to find 50 wins from 2016. Early on, they admitted how much of a challenge it was and were secretly cursing me under their breath. However, once they hit 15-20—something magical happened. They got into a flow state, increased their awareness and realized they had amassed countless wins during the last year. As entrepreneurs and go-getters, we can get hyped up for a goal, achieve it, and then move on to what’s next. Or worse, we can focus on what’s missing or who is doing better than us.
The first step in reflecting is identifying at least one major win in your week—maybe you committed to four fitness sessions and followed through, hit a sales call quota, created a new marketing campaign or simply had an amazing date night with your spouse.
Identify the win and celebrate it.
Where Did You Fall Short?
Once we’ve identified and extracted a win, we do the same for an obstacle. Maybe we wanted to create a certain amount of business, or maybe we launched a webinar and few people showed up. It doesn’t matter what the obstacle is. By getting it out of our heads, we lose the emotional connection to it and are able to do two things:
- Create perspective. We’re able to see that it’s usually not as much of a big dea las we thought.
- Course correct. We’re able to create a new strategy or pivot and ensure we overcome it next time.
The key is identifying the new strategy or at least extracting a lesson you can use next time around.
What Is Your Big Rock?
Next up, we shift our focus to the upcoming week ahead. I love having people identify one major rock in business that they can say with absolute certainty moves the needle forward. Whether it’s automation and systems, sales and revenue, or lead generation and marketing, pick one big rock for your week and make it absolutely non-negotiable.
To ensure you shatter your big rocks, make sure that:
- It’s realistic. Creating an entire marketing funnel in one week may not be realistic. Instead, pick the biggest keystone action you can take in regards to that project.
- It’s measurable. Instead of writing, “Hire a project manager”—create a goal that can be measured. In that example, I’d use, “Interview at least five potential candidates.”
- It’s non-negotiable. Once the pen has been put to paper, this becomes your non-negotiable priority for the week.
What Are You Committed To?
The last step in this practice is to set intentional commitments in all the areas of life, put them on the schedule and never look back. This includes what I call the five areas of life, including:
- Health. Schedule workouts, recovery time and nutritional needs to ensure success.
- Business. Ensure the growth of your business by identifying your big rock above, and the supporting tasks that go alone with it.
- Connection. How are you moving your relationships forward? Think both intimate and social ones.
- Spirit. What activities are you doing to ensure you stay connected with your spiritual practice?
- Experiences. What are you committed to experiencing this week in your life?
Mondays Will Never Be the Same
Once you implement the practice above, Mondays will never be the same. You’ll wake up with clarity, intention and power while others spin their wheels trying to catch up on irrelevant tasks.
In the game of life and entrepreneurship, clarity matters, and this is the best way to achieve it.
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