Conversation

Every month I review my goals and reflect on my progress, practices, and mindset. Looking back, I note that in 7 of the 9 last months, I was pretty disappointed in myself. There were always lots that wasn't going to plan. Everything always took longer to finish than I’d expected.
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But I also do a quarterly review. I ask myself ~the same questions as in the monthly reflections, but over a longer time horizon. Looking back now, I see that in 3 of the 4 last quarters, I’d been thrilled (and surprised) by how much I’d achieved and how well things were going!
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One common pattern each quarter: “3 months ago, I wasn’t even thinking about XYZ, but now I’ve done XYZ++!” It’s odd that my quarterly reflections are so consistently bright, while my monthly reflections are so consistently glum. I’m not sure how to explain this contradiction!
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I'm glad you do this and have similar challenges to me re: reflection! I'd be curious your format. I keep a purposefully simple spreadsheet. I've found it helps recall small successes that I might fail to otherwise. I should perhaps add a monthly written reflection as well.
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Replying to
At least for my aspirations, prose is crucial. I find that spreadsheet-izable KPIs miss much of what I care about. More:
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Replying to @carpdiem
roughly: 1. What did I do this [period]? 2. How did I live this [period]? What did it feel like to be me? (socially, emotionally, intellectually, creatively) 3. Looking at what I intended to do and the way I intended to be, what's the diff? 4. What do I want to try?