When it comes to juggling our busy professional and personal lives, it's so easy to live each day on auto-pilot without pausing to reflect and check-in with ourselves in an intentional manner. We tend to focus on what's required and expected of us, but rarely do we take the time for introspection. 

However, by creating space in our lives for reflection and intention setting, it allows us to feel more confident and resilient and remain hopeful and focused when it comes to our goals and growth. Be it every quarter, every month, every week or every day, by setting aside time to ask these questions will guide you closer to your vision of creating the life you truly want and becoming the best version of yourself.

After the year that we’ve had and as we begin this new year, these are twelve questions and prompts that can help kickstart your reflection and introspection process. It's key for us to take responsibility to be intentional and live each day being in control of our thoughts and actions.

By looking back and reflecting on how the past year has been, it allows us to celebrate the small wins and look for opportunities for improvement.

...

1. What are the wins I am most proud of?

Learn to celebrate not just the big achievements and milestones, but also the small everyday wins. It’s easy to brush them off, but it’s so important to highlight them to help us enjoy the process and the journey towards our goals. Consider keeping a journal to note down these wins.

2. What am I most grateful for?

Besides the usual things we tend to be grateful for, try to think outside of the box and look at how certain situations might have been blessings in disguise. There’s always more than we can imagine to be grateful for.

3. What lessons have I learned?

Even when things don’t go our way and we stumble and fall, there is still so much for us to learn from those situations. Shift your perspective to see what you can truly learn from those challenging times.

4. How have I grown and improved?

You might feel the same, but the truth is you have probably grown immensely in the past year, be it mentally, emotionally, spiritually or physically. Take a deep look on how you’ve transformed in the different areas of your life and as an individual.

5. What do I need to let go of?

There may have been some situations, people or thoughts that have been weighing you down the last few months that have not been serving you in any way. It may be difficult to let go, but your life will improve once you do so.

6. What are the habits I should stop?

Our lives are ultimately made up of our habits. To achieve our goals and become our best versions, we need to transform our habits. It’s time to take an intentional look at which habits are negatively impacting us that we can work on eliminating.

And by looking ahead and deciding how you want the next year to be, it helps guide you to purposefully envision who you want to be, what you want to accomplish and how you want your days to be.

7. Who do I want to become?

We get so caught up on all the things we have to do, do we rarely stop to think WHO do we want to be. Take the time to think of the new identity you would like to embody and the traits this new version of you will have in the new year.

8. What are the main goals I should prioritize?

Don’t overload yourself with too many goals that you would like to achieve in this new year. Focus on just 2–3 main goals and commit all of your time and energy on accomplishing them. Determine why it’s important to achieve these goals and break them down into smaller actionable items.

9. What new habits and patterns of thinking do I want to adopt?

Instead of defaulting to habits and thoughts that don’t serve you, be intentional about which habits and patterns of thinking you want to adopt that will allow you to move closer to your goals and who you want to be.

10. How will I be more present?

All we ever really have is this moment. The present moment. We end up living too far into the future or too far in the past, to ever really enjoy the present moment we have been gifted with. Commit to being more present in your daily life this new year.

11. How can I practice more self-love?

This encompasses being kind to yourself, being proud of yourself, forgiving yourself, not holding on to guilt and shame, accepting yourself for who you are and loving every single thing about you. By doing so, this will allow you to reach new levels of growth and success. 

12. How will I prioritise my wellbeing?

As much as focusing on your goals to crush the new year is key, it’s important to not do so at the expense of sacrificing your wellbeing. Be sure to make time for yourself and always take care of you first. Your goals can only be accomplished if you are in the optimum state - which means prioritising your sleep, nutrition and exercise. 

...

Start to be more intentional in your life by beginning to adopt a habit of reflection and introspection. You're in charge of your life and it's time for you to be in control. Remember to take the time today to check-in with yourself by asking these questions - whatever you're doing, wherever you are.