Two Minutes That Can Change Your Life

If you could do one tiny thing that would make your entire life better, would you do it?

Our research shows that people who reflect regularly rate ALL of their life systems more positively than those who don’t! And yet, only 25% of people say they reflect regularly.

The rewards of reflection are seen in the research on self-awareness. It shows that increasing self-awareness leads to more confidence and creativity, better decision-making, stronger relationships and communication, and more effective leadership.

The downside of reflection? It sounds boring, hard, and nebulous.

So let’s poke at these.

Reflection is, simply put, looking at yourself and your life.

The rewards don’t require navel-gazing all day, but they do require showing up consistently for a quick, digestible daily hit. A mere two minutes has been shown effective.

My personal reflection practice has grown over the years and includes:

🪞A few minutes at family dinner each night to share something we’ve learned or found interesting in the day.

🪞 Regular meetings with a couple of friends in which we deeply check in on one another and ourselves.

🪞 Seeing my coach weekly and pouring out all of the limiting beliefs and weird thoughts I’ve been carrying around so that I can move past them.

🪞 Turning off my headphones to be with myself during my run at least once a week.

🪞And this month, I’m spending a few minutes every morning reflecting on and sharing the story of a woman who inspired me in each day of #womenshistorymonth. Those are over on Instagram, if you’re interested in meeting some of the amazing women who lift me up.

🪞 But the tiniest, and in some ways, the most powerful, is answering the reflection question I post every morning at 7am to the Uplifter crew.

The questions include things like: What’s one thing you learned last week? What’s one thing that you could do for your true priorities today? When are you most focused? What’s something beautiful that you saw, felt or heard this week? What helps you find patience with yourself and others when things aren't moving as quickly as you'd like them to? And on and on. A different question every day.

I never spend more than two minutes answering the questions, but those two minutes have helped me live and love so much bigger. And, of course, I learn just as much from the other women’s responses as I do from my own.

I say all of this as a chronically failed diarist. I’ve attempted to keep a journal about 1000 times in my life, but unlike those people I’ve always admired who amass decades of detailed diaries, I’ve never managed to make it more than two days before forgetting my big plan. That is, until LiveUp. Somehow these short, routine, shared check-ins have clicked for me.

So what works for you? A fancy, printed guided journal like Kara’s gorgeous Do It Today? Prayer? Conversation? Time in nature?

The best way to reflect is the way you’ll actually do it, so if you’re one of the 75% of people who aren’t reaping the benefits of reflection, how might you take a little step toward making it a habit this week? Please let me know in the comments below.

Thanks so much for coming along with me in this journey! It’s such a joy to learn and grow with you!

XO

Aransas