Huwork

Tag: blog 6/2/2020

  • How Do You Start Your Day?

    Wow – June is here with a bang, but wish it was more like fun fireworks than fists flying. As my husband joked last night, Covid-19 thanks the riots for shifting our nation’s focus.

    But in all seriousness, we are letting time and opportunity pass us by if we don’t take time to reflect individually and collectively. And not just when there are news-worthy events, but I humbly suggest setting up DAILY reflection time with predetermined questions for yourself…to lay the foundation with everyday life, to build your reflection muscle, and to build a practice you can rely on when life goes sideways (because it will for each of us at times in our life).

      

    As a mentor of mine shared, daily reflection is “where the gold is”. Taking even 5 minutes to reflect every morning and evening allows us to adjust, adapt, and pivot our mindsets and actions. And life your life INTENTIONALLY.

    Your reflection questions will be unique to you, because as much as I make up stories about everyone I meet, I can’t know what is important to you. But in the spirit of sharing, here is a subset of my AM reflection questions. The AM reflection questions are always forward looking. I do an AM reflection every weekday (even I give myself a break on the weekends.) This takes 5 minutes, and you WILL figure out a way to squeeze it in IF YOU COMMIT TO IT…meaning if you commit to YOURSELF.

    Bijal’s AM reflection questions:

    1. What am I committed to today? (Today for Bijal: taking a deep breath when I feel outrage/sadness about current events, turning off electronics by 8pm, and being intentional about getting out in nature for my mental and physical well-being.)

     

    1. What small everyday decisions can I make to live up to that commitment and live a life I am proud of? (Today for Bijal: acknowledging my feelings, setting reminders to take a deep breath every hour, setting limits for email, social media, so I don’t go down a rabbit hole of topics that are interesting to me but will take me away from my commitments today; taking at least 2 calls from my backyard.)

     

    1. What am I looking forward to today? (Today for Bijal: watching a movie with my 12 year old son about a dog being the mayor of a town at 4:30pm. But sometimes if I’m being honest with myself that’s it’s going to be a sucky day, I have to intentionally add something to look forward to, even if it’s just a frothy matcha latte at 11am.)

     

    What would you add or change with my questions to fit YOU? I would love to see your list and hear your thoughts on an AM reflection. And I’ll share ideas for PM reflections in the next email.

     

  • How Do You End Your Day?

    “Not everything that is faced can be changed but for anything to be changed it must be faced.” 

    I love that quote by James Baldwin because it highlights that we all have a choice in how we live our one precious life. We can choose to shy away from difficult situations, with others and within ourselves, or we can choose COURAGE and acknowledge it, face it. Yesterday I shared a few prompts for a forward-looking morning reflection to be intentional about your day.

     

    The other bookend for your day is the evening reflection. My business partner Liesa and I were just chatting about how intentionally making even minor changes in your day lead to big changes – in our mental state, in our relationships, in our work. 

     

    The PM reflection offers a chance to catch your breath and think about your day. And allow space for you to be honest about how you are living your life, because each day leads to weeks, each week leads to months, each month leads to years, and each year leads to the life you have lived.

     

    Below is subset of my PM reflection questions in case it is helpful to you:

     

    1. What am I grateful for today? I had a huge model in gratitude last year when my father was near the end of his days. Even in pain, he constantly spoke about being grateful – grateful for his life, grateful for his family, grateful for his nurse, grateful for kindness, grateful even for the Indian tea I would spoon into his mouth.

      • My gratitude from yesterday – feeling of service helping a coaching client remove a mental obstacle.

     

    1. What did I learn about myself today? (Sometimes I’ll ask a follow up question about what did I learn about someone else today?)

      • Mine from yesterday – I get more traction on my projects when I block 2 hours of (mostly) uninterrupted morning time => block my calendar until 11am and only schedule meetings for the afternoon.

     

    1. How can I make tomorrow better? Often in the moment, we cannot or do not think about why we need to make those small hard choices to have a better day. But reflecting on it the night before and jotting it down somewhere (I’m a fan of post-its on my desk) allows you to take that learning and more easily apply it to the next day.

      • Mine from yesterday – drink more water.

      If I can assist you on your path, please schedule (afternoon) time with me here:https://calendly.com/bijalchoksi/alliance