Self awareness can change your life. Print out my simple journaling worksheet and complete it on a nightly basis and take control of your life.
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Self Awareness is a Powerful Part of Change and Growth
Hey, we’ve all been there.
You go through your day and feel like you are busy, busy, busy but then you don’t really get to experience life.
You miss out on things and you don’t make progress toward your goals.
You think you’re doing all the right things, but at the end of the day, there isn’t anything to show for it!
I’ve experienced this too. I remember sitting at work one day and feeling like although I was completely busy, I didn’t get anything done. I started to question myself.
Am I really busy or maybe just kind of slow at doing things?
Here’s the thing, when you are in the world today, you’re faced with so many distractions…
It is so easy to lose sight of your goals, to fall victim to the next email or the next phone call demanding your time.
Then you get stuck in assuming you’ve made more progress than you did. You get stuck in assuming you’re doin all the things but just failing
But you have to step back and take inventory of what is really going on. You need to be more self aware.
How are you spending your time? Is it on the things you want to be spending your time on?
In the example above, I chose to take out one of those calendars that have appointments listed throughout the day (like this one) and every hour I stopped to write down what I did for the last hour.
It helped to open my eyes.
You only have so much time. Are you spending it on the right things? Or are you just busy?
By the way, here is an excellent book on how to discover what those right things are.
Make Time For Reflection
As you become more self aware, you’ll notice you’ve been spending time on things that don’t matter…that don’t move the needle.
You’ll notice you spend a lot of time worrying about things.
It’s important to slow down and find some time to ask yourself more and more questions about how things are doing.
Each day, I like to stop and ask myself questions like this: What went well and what could have been improved during the day? What are your strengths and did you use them to the greatest extent today? Are you getting caught up in comparison and distraction, which then leads you off course?
Think of your goals for the day. Did you reach them? Why or why not? Were the goals important? If you didn’t reach them, do you feel you gave the best effort? If not, what got in your way?
Did you have any wins during the day? What are the things you did well that you should keep doing?
What important moments happened during the day you want to remember?
I created a journal page that includes some of these questions that you can ask yourself each day. Put in your name and email and I’ll send it right over.
I recommend finding time to complete this journal page each night to get very intentional about how you move forward toward each day’s goals.
Another option is to use a premade journal that includes directed question like this. The Daily Greatness Journal is one of these. You can see my review of the Daily Greatness Journal here.
I also recently started to use this Phoenix Journal the I found on Amazon and have to say it is one of the best journals I’ve tried.
How Does it Help To Be More Self Aware and Reflect on Your Day?
Imagine how your life might change if you chose to be this mindful every day. You would be aware of how your behavior affects others. You would be aware of how you sabotage yourself with negative distorted thinking. You would recognize your strengths and be able to capitalize on them, to practice and improve.
You could get out of your own way and improve your creativity.
You’d start to recognize where you life is out of balance. Are you spending too much of your time working, neglecting hobbies and activities (I’m guilty of this). Can you make a plan to change that.
What kinds of things are you letting into your mind? Do you spend a lot of time reading the news or looking for drama on social media? How might this affect you?
One thing I find helpful is taking some time to journal. Whether it be a free-written journal where you reflect on your day or if you use journal prompts to answer questions, journaling can help you to be mindful of how you are in the world.
Since starting my bullet journal, I’ve reached a ton more clarity about who I am, what is important to me, and I have a firmer grasp on what I need to do to move forward. I often need prompts to help me think of what to write each day, so I’ve created a journal sheet to help you reflect on your day by journaling. Enter your email and I will send it to you. I’d love to hear how it goes!