This is the final article for this page for 2023. Next week we take a break to take stock for 2023 before resuming again on 3rd January 2024, Inshallah!
In this last article of the year, I would love to share about the power of taking time out to reflect, count on your achievements and blessings, take lessons, and figure out the next phase of your growth.
This is a powerful practice in your journey of growth and self-development. This is a practice well known and understood by icons of history in diverse fields. It is a habit that is sure to keep you focused and on track towards your goals. Here are simple and practical reasons why you must take time out and reflect on the year 2023 that was:
- Success is not an instantaneous outcome but a total of small achievements consistently tracked and achieved one at a time – this page is about money, wealth, and self-leadership into greatness. The articles that you’ve been reading here are written and posted at least once every week. Today, the page has tens of articles and they keep growing. Imagine how this page would look in the next 5 years. Suppose I did not start or I skipped doing the weekly articles? The same applies to my loyal readers and audience. If you are not regular on the page say a month, 4 articles shall have been uploaded here, and the more you skip each week, the more it becomes hard to keep track of your readings. This is just how differences are created among people, over time;
- If you do not stop to take stock, you will not know what you have achieved and what remains undone -unless you take time to count on what you have accomplished out of what you had planned, you will never know where you are and how far you are to your goals. For instance, many of us started with specific financial goals in 2023. Have you checked what you have accomplished so far? Are you aware if you are on target or out of target? Are you aware of why you have achieved or missed the targets you set for yourself? Unless you can answer these questions candidly, then you may not be able to account for the year;
- Taking stock helps you pick the lessons learned along the way – we all are made of flaws. Even the greatest amongst us make mistakes, get distracted at some point, or veer off from the set course. Creating a habit of setting time out will help you become aware of these deviations and allow you a chance to get back on track in good time. You become better with each lesson learned and corrective action taken. It is part of the process of personal growth and development;
- It helps you remain accountable to yourself -in as much as you set your own goals and targets, you must remain accountable towards the realization of those goals. Accountability is not just a concept of the corporate or government world, but also quite relevant and practical to our individual lives. I share a very personal experience here to bring the point home. If you are an ardent follower of this article, you know my day starts at 4.00 am. In the quarter of May -June 2023, I was most meticulous and the health and physical fitness gains were phenomenal. For some reason, I have had bouts of distractions in these last two quarters and lost some of these gains. Am only aware of this fact because I have already formed a habit of taking time out each Friday to reflect on the week and a weekend each month to account for the milestones of the month. Next week, I would still have been able to do an article as I have always done, but we deliberately take a break so that I reflect and account for the achievements, missteps, milestones, challenges, and lessons learned so that we can make this page going and better in 2024;
- We are all in the porter’s hands – it is only a fool who desires to remain in one place forever. Our human nature is wired to keep us in the porter’s hands each day. We are work-in-progress and each day adds to this work process. Taking time out helps you hear or understand what the porter has in store for you. It is not just a physical, but also a mental and spiritual configuration. So take time out and commune with the things of the spiritual realms. Your mind works best when it is relaxed and tasked to figure out solutions to those things that trouble you in your daily life. Taking rest to take stock connects you to this side of life essential.
#From this page, we truly and sincerely wish you a Merry Christmas, lovely festivities with family and friends, a blessed and happy 2024. See you here again in January 2024, God’s willing.