I was thinking it had been a while since I’d written anything about our home life. Well, part of it is we have been under hardcore construction and home has felt like a revolving to do list. We’re in the season of action. There’s an energy in the skies and it’s propelling us to transform our space in a way I’ve never experienced. We’ve worked hard in the past (see this post on 2018), but this new phase is physical work, the type of activity that is tiring and keeps us present. There’s something about working with my hands that sparks a whole different thought process. It’s all good, just different and a lot of work. All to say, this month, my monthly check-in looked different.

I go through an internal process of reflecting every the month, recording my wins and extracting the insights. I then create new goals for next month based on what I identify as areas that get to evolve further. For me, it’s really fun. I usually write it down and then I’ll bring Jaime in to reflect on his month over coffee. He’ll listen and reflect, but he’s more of a verbal sharer than a journaler. To each his own!

While my dad was staying with us this freaked him out. He’d never seen people do this, which surprised me because all I read about lately is everyone goal setting and all the ways they do it. I used to make fun of it as “process porn,” which seemed to flood podcasts and pinterest after the 4 Hour Workweek exploded. I was into it but then got tired of reading about ALL THE WAYS to optimize my life. Sometimes, you just get to live, ya know?

I don’t remember exactly what prompted me to begin doing this. It may have been after Jaime and I took Part 1 of the Gratitude Training, a retreat-like course we both attended over a weekend. It was a life changing experience and we didn’t want to lose the clarity we gained, so I put a monthly coffee date on our calendar to check in. It was the first time I did anything like that.

 

The goal was simple: determine what was working, what wasn’t working, and what we now get to add to the situation.

 

It’s a formula I use every month now. Here is my process should you like to give it a try. I highly recommend it! When the year is done, you can really concretely see how far you’ve come. It’s hard to remember if you wait until the year is over!

Step 1 – Journal your wins

Here, put everything down! From small to big, really think about it.

Step 2 – Journal what wasn’t working

Here, write down some of things that didn’t support you. Maybe it’s something you wished you could have done differently or a behavior that actually affected you negatively. Whatever comes to mind, include it.

Step 3 – In a new section, turn each of the above line items into an insight written as a directive.

This is the cool part and very fun to read back to yourself. Here’s an example: We painted the entire exterior of our home in a week! Turns into: When I commit, I can make anything happen in the timing I want it to.

 

And that’s it! Easy peasy. I can share so much more about how game changing the process of identifying what is working/ what is not can be, or about how the idea of radical accountability changed my life… and I will, but I really wanted to keep this post as short as possible (for my standards anyway hah).

Do you have a similar practice? Anything you’d add to this?

If you do, and if you give this a try, I’d love to hear about it. Tell me in the comments below!