Bertrand Russell, the philosopher and social ethicist, is quoted,
"In all affairs it's a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted."
It should be no surprise that this is one of my favourite quotes, as my living savvy approach is built around questioning the very core elements of our lives: What am I creating? What do I believe? Where am I headed? Who completes me?
But 'Ask' is only step 1 of the 5 steps to living savvy – the questions are merely the spark and it's up to you to build the fire…
Step 2 – Do – is about spending time with the questions that are important to you and developing your own unique answers.
Step 3 – Discover – is about connecting with new information, experiences and people, so you can understand yourself and the world more deeply, and find new options for moving ahead.
Step 4 – Commit – is about committing to change, taking action and observing the results so you can fine tune your life to live extraordinary.
Step 5 – Celebrate – is about acknowledging and celebrating your efforts and successes, and refocussing with confidence on the future.
There are 5 steps to living savvy – but there's one underlying practice that's vital to every single step…
If you think of the 5 steps as doorways through which you'll pass again and again on your living savvy journey – then the master key that opens all of them is reflection.
Creating time for quiet, conscious reflection is at the core of our personal development and evolution.
I know people who are very successful at creating dedicated time and space for a formal reflective practice such as meditation. If that's you then I'm sending you a big acknowledgement for your discipline and commitment – I'm sure that incorporating some of our living savvy questions into your routine will produce great results.
(And for those who'd like to start meditating, check out our how to start meditating without the stress guide.)
For the rest of us, it can be incredibly difficult to find time for quiet reflection.
I can honestly relate to your frustration – finding time for all the joys, challenges and responsibilities of having two active kids, a husband, a big personal project like Living Savvy, PhD research underway, a network of friends and family, an exercise routine, a home… I get it!
So I take a very practical approach to creating a space for reflection – grab any moment that you can!
The secret to making this approach work is to have just one question or issue you are reflecting on. You might have a practice of taking five minutes before bed every Sunday night to ask yourself what you really need time to think about, or to choose a living savvy question. Write it down to fix it in your mind.
Then throughout the week, when you have a moment, bring your question to mind. Moments I have grabbed successfully include:
- Running (ipod needs to be turned off)
- Patting restless children back to sleep (I've had lots of those moments)
- Completing mundane tasks of household responsibility such as making the bed, unpacking the dishwasher, doing the ironing
- I used to love the shower (not so much now with water conservation consciousness raised)
- Hearing a story on the radio or TV and making the connection to your thoughts and ideas
- Putting the book and magazine down at the beach and looking out to sea
So, tell me in the comments, where and when do you grab your moments of thinking and reflection?
Related posts:
- Inside coaching: I don’t have time to live extraordinary, I am too busy keeping up with the ordinary! (Pt 2)
- Do you need the top job to live extraordinary?
- Living the life you were meant to live
- Inside Coaching: I don’t have time to live extraordinary, I am too busy keeping up with the ordinary!
- Living Savvy Episode #11: The living savvy women reveal their secret fantasies!
[...] is the “master key” to coaching the living savvy way http://livingsavvy.com.au/master-key-to-living-savvy, when you are setting the time aside for your coaching, reflection is as important as the doing of [...]
My most productive reflection time is when I'm gardening. I'm very good at going out to do a small job and staying much longer than I'd planned, but I always know I've accomplished more than the gardening.
Of course, the difficulty is getting out into the garden. But I know I come back to 'work' feeling much more in touch with reality. It's one of the advantages of working at home – I can take a short (?) break and return to working refreshed and at peace.
Desolie
Desolie, your right the hardest part of creating space and time for reflection is moving away from the doing & task at hand and into the process of refelection. That is why when we are creating the habits & rituals around reflection it is important to build or schedule into our day just as we would any other task – there is a need for discipline isn't there. Once you get into the space of reflecting as you have discovered with the gardening the time floats away and you come back with focus & energy. Thank you for sharing.