5 Powerful Reasons to Make Reflection a Daily Habit, and How to Do It

It’s New Year’s Eve (where I live), and I’ve been doing a lot of reflection over the last year. It’s the perfect time of year to look back and reflect on what you’ve done right this year, to learn from what you’ve done. And on further reflection, this habit of reflection is something that I’ve developed pretty strongly this year. It’s actually one of the secrets to my success. At least once a day, and more often several times a day, I reflect on my day, on my life, on what I’ve been doing right, and what isn’t working. I reflect on every aspect of my life, and from this habit of reflection, I am able to continuously improve. Reflection is what gave me the topic of this post, and the tips that are to follow. Reflection is what gives me the content of every post I write here on Zen Habits. I highly recommend that, if you haven’t yet, you develop the daily habit of reflection, in your own way. It could have profound changes on your life. Here are but a few: 1. It helps you learn from your mistakes. If we don’t reflect on our mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them. And that’s not very smart. However, if we reflect on those mistakes, figure out what went wrong, see how we can prevent them in the future, we can use our mistakes to get better. Mistakes, then, are a valuable learning tool, instead of something to feel embarrassed or upset about. Reflection is an important way to do that. 2. It gives you great ideas. Like I said, every single post idea that I have for Zen Habits (or other blogs I write for) comes from reflection. Basically, I reflect on things that I’m doing or that are going on in my life. If things aren’t going well, I learn stuff I can share with others. If I reflect on something that’s a success for me, I think about how I got that success, and share that too. I’ve had hundreds of great ideas this year from reflection. 3. It helps you help others. The ideas I get for posts are not just things I feel like writing about … they’re ways that I can share what I’ve learned to help others going through the same things. And this year, I’ve learned just how powerful that is. I began the year with the hope that some of the things I’ve learned in the past couple years can help others … and I’m ending the year with the profound realization of how such simple little tips can change people’s lives. I’ve had hundreds of emails from readers who tell me how little tips, like how to wake up early, or how to start the exercise habit, have changed their lives. That’s incredible. I’m overjoyed if I help people or inspire them. 4. It makes you happier. If you reflect on the things you did right, on your successes, that allows you to celebrate every little success. It allows you to realize how much you’ve done right, the good things you’ve done in your life. Without reflection, it’s too easy to forget these things, and focus instead on our failures. 5. It gives you perspective. Often we are caught up in the troubles or busy-ness of our daily lives. A mistake or a high-pressure project or something like that can seem like it means all the world. It can overwhelm us sometimes. But if we take a minute to step back, and reflect on these problems, and how in the grand scheme of things they don’t mean all that much, it can calm us down and lower our stress levels. We gain perspective, and that’s a good thing. How to Make Reflection a Daily Habit If reflection isn’t something you feel you do enough, consider making it a habit. Here are some suggestions for doing that: 1. Start a one-sentence journal. I picked up this trick from my friend Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project … basically, it’s the easy way to start the journaling habit. If you’ve tried and failed at journaling in the pas...