The Beauty of Self Reflection

The Beauty of Self Reflection

As the end of the year rolls around, it’s easy for me to find myself lost in self-reflection. Okay, let’s be honest: self-recrimination. Sure, I’ve made some awesome things happen this year. I’ve enjoyed collaborating with cool people, starting new projects, and fortunately growing my business. However, my head is constantly filled with ideas I haven’t pursued. I think about my half accomplished goals while flipping through notebooks full of strategies and plans. Why are there always more tasks to get done than there are hours in the day?

There’s gotta be an app to fix that.

It’s when these thoughts sneak their way into my head that I remember this gem by Matthew Kelly: we overestimate what we can accomplish in a year, and underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade. When we focus on what we haven’t accomplished, we miss the beauty in what we have achieved.

I recently won an award for entrepreneurship. The community of people I’ve spent years working with showered me with congratulations. Me? I was shocked. I’ve never really considered myself an entrepreneur. After all, I’m not trying to build a multi-million dollar business. I’m a solopreneur, not Lori Greiner or Sara Blakely, that’s for sure! I consider myself a freelancer always hustling to produce value for my clients, build my business, and create exciting opportunities.

I love my work. I love the communities I serve. While I was deeply honored to receive this award, I was fighting a severe case of imposter syndrome. The overwhelming sensation that I didn’t merit the award overshadowed all the positivity from my community. Can you relate?

Then one of my long-time mentors called me. After he finished congratulating me, I told him how undeserved the award felt. His reply? You may not be building a huge business, but you’re building an inspired community. I got goosebumps on my arms. Those words meant the world to me! It made me realize how often we, as business owners, don’t stop and think about the impact we make on our clients and communities. We let the ideas and projects we have yet to finish preoccupy us.

Take a moment.

How have you made a difference in your business this week? This month? This year? Who have you impacted along the way?

Own Your Superpower

Think about the last time you received a call from a client thanking you for the amazing experience they had working with you. Remember how you felt during that call. Those are the moments that keep us excited about our work. They fuel us with the energy to keep pushing forward, especially during our most challenging times. So when you get a compliment, soak it in. Smile. We all have a superpower, something we naturally do so well that we take it for granted. Yet, that is the very thing that makes us stand out. It’s the trait that attracts people to us and it’s our responsibility to share it.

Embrace it.

Flaunt it.

Work it.

It’s easy to get stuck checking off the endless tasks on our to do lists. Right now, I’m sure you can share ten things you want to get done by the end of the day. But take this moment. Acknowledge your success and how far you’ve come. We’ll always be striving for more. It’s what we do. Let’s choose to enjoy where we are right now.

Accept Thanks

Just like my mentor did for me, there are people in your community who want to thank you for being such an inspiration. Whenever that happens, don’t brush it off or act like it doesn’t hold meaning. Accept the compliment, hold your head up high and embrace your awesomeness. Whether you have a thousand clients or one, you are making a difference.

Looking back down the path we’ve traveled helps us realize how much we’ve learned and how many challenges we have conquered. Some with grace. Some with grit. Either way, they helped us get to where we are. This doesn’t just improve our confidence. It also helps us recognise our superpower. Using this knowledge, we can connect the dots of our lives and careers to continue our exciting, crazy and unique journey.

Hey, building anything special is hard. We should welcome all the fun we find along the way.

We get to choose to give ourselves credit for the things we’ve worked hard to accomplish, because, guess what? We’ve come a long way! Sometimes our journey doesn’t look the way we thought it would. And you know what? That’s ok.

Embrace your super power. Keep doing good work.