July 1st. The perfect day to pause and to reflect on how this year is going.
Today is the perfect day to be brutally honest with me and to reflect on how the year is going. July 1st is the calendar’s way of reminding us, that half of the year has gone by, and we are heading into 2nd half. We might not want it, like it, or care to notice, but we can’t miss it, because today will happen with or without our consent.
To me it feels like just yesterday, there was a New Year celebration, the clock striking midnight, the year began with feelings of renewed energy, a clean slate, dreams, and resolutions. Time flies, a year could go by unnoticed and unexamined.
If you are the kind of person who keeps your focus and examines every day, respect you. I lack the discipline of daily review and tend to dig in on the big calendar days, such as the new month, a new quarter, therefore I really need these moments of reflection.
I’ll share how I do the mid-year review:
I look at how the year is going. I think about every “thread” that makes up my “fabric of life”. Big words, a cliche, but what they mean to me, are focus areas, like axis along which life moves in a certain trajectory. They are: spirituality, finances, family, and the like. I’ll put my full list below for those interested. They are not goals. See, while I enjoy setting goals, I think that goals alone are not enough. The goal feels like an event, a party, a mile marker on a road somewhere, where what interests me more than the goal is the depth and growth and direction of such growth. Am I headed in the right direction in a most efficient manner?
- What went really well? Why do I think that a good thing?
- What did not go well, and what makes that bad?
- Are my priorities still valid? What makes them important and why?
- Am I moving in the direction I set?
- How much of the past six months went in the direction I set at the beginning of the year?
Examining the year this way reveals the patterns of behavior. In truth, the answers are all over the board. Some things are going better than expected, while others failed and I deserve a kick in the rear. This process offers insights, which I write down and think about. It helps me see the good things that have happened, reflect on what’s important, and what needs improving. This is how I grow, get inspired, add to life, and make it live richer.
Socrates, who I quoted above, believed that the purpose of human life was personal and spiritual growth and that it is through an examination and a reflection we are able to grow. In our daily life, we are too busy to be self-aware. We are engaged with the never-ending cycle of working and consuming. I suppose it’s a radical thought to stop and contemplate your life, but I’ll agree with Socrates here, that this is the only thing that really matters.
Happy July 1st!
- Spiritual
- Business & Professional Development
- Financial
- Learning
- Family
- Social
- Self and Attitude
- Physical