Reflection for Personal Growth, Looking Back To Move Forward

If you’re always ‘busy’ and feeling like you’re going nowhere, it might just be because you are constantly looking at the moving goal line.

Here’s the thing, dreams and goals have a way of creeping. Just as you get one little thing done, a new idea or inspiration adds a new element to the dream. This pushes the finish line out further, so it feels like you’re doing all the work but never getting any closer.

Reflection for Personal Growth Starts with Looking Back

The key to feeling productive and knowing that you are indeed moving forward is to look backwards for a moment. To really acknowledge just how much you’ve done, gained, and grown.

There is a difference between doing and becoming. Doing is about activity, busy work. A spinning top is doing something but it gets nothing done. It just spins.

And while this can be fun for a minute, it becomes dizzying and unproductive. Those days where you’ve been running around and you have all the projects spewed out across your desk, the floor, your home but nothing actually got moved forward or completed…those are spinning top days. We all have them.

And then there are those days where things are calm and you are going about your day intentionally and you get SO MUCH DONE! It seems like a magic day where you can get all your household shopping done in 20 minutes (at Costco no less) AND you’re able to get EXTRA stuff along the way. This is the way of becoming. It’s focused and concise.

Becoming is about integration and knowing what is right for you and what is not. It’s about choosing that right thing and saying NO to all else. It’s about stepping back, looking at the big picture, and making distinct choices without all the noise of the what if’s and should be’s.

Using Reflection for Personal Growth to Break the Spinning Top Cycle

When you slow down enough to take a look backwards, you get the chance to identify where you got caught up in the spinning top and where the magic of becoming happened. You can start to see where patterns start to form for each and you become more aware so you can lean into or shy away from them.

This doesn’t mean that you won’t get caught up in a spinning top moment, we all do. Sometimes they come out of nowhere and catch us off guard. It just means that you’ll be able to recognize when it’s happening and be able to make a choice to either stay in it or find a way out.

As you look back, remember where you started. See the skills and knowledge you gained. Notice the capabilities you strengthened.

As you’re running that 5K, remember when you couldn’t even walk a mile. You may not be able to run a marathon just yet, but you’re running a 5K!!! WHAAT?!? AMAZING!

As you’re decluttering your home, remember that space that you could only walk into and cry before walking out again…that space is clear now and you’re working on the rest! You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t started the journey.

THAT is progress! That is growth! That is what going somewhere looks like. It may not be the finish line (that keeps moving), but really … could you ever have imagined that you would be here?

Reflection for Personal Growth Builds Confidence in Your BIG Dream

Think back to that version of you who had a hard time with whatever it was you were trying to do and give yourself a Goal’d Star™ for all you’ve accomplished so far, you deserve it!

When that is settled into your being, you can turn back to that ever growing dream and know it’s because you’ve already fulfilled many smaller dreams along the way. You will know that you can do this BIG Dream by completing all the smaller increments along the way.

As you continue practicing reflection, you start to see something powerful, you are not starting over, you are building from experience. Every step you’ve taken has brought you closer to who you are becoming and what you truly want. 

If you’re ready to go deeper and turn that clarity into direction, I’ve created something to help you take that next step. Download The BIG Dream Visualization and give yourself the space to reconnect with what you truly want, so you can move forward with purpose, confidence, and a clear vision of what’s next.