The National Retail Federation estimates that shoppers will spend an extraordinary $1 trillion on holiday gifts this year, a figure that eclipses every season before it. Yet amid this surge of consumer generosity, the most meaningful gift isn’t the latest status watch or sports car, and it doesn’t come wrapped or purchased. Whether or not you benefit from this wave of consumer generosity, the most powerful and lasting gift available to you is one only you can give: the quiet, transformative gift of reflection.
If you are like many of the leaders I support, your days are packed with meetings, relentless deadlines and an endless stream of challenges to solve. In that environment, it’s easy to believe that accomplishment is the goal. You are rewarded for delivering results and penalized for falling short of expectations. I understand that reality.
But what if there is more to be gained from the hours you invest in leading your organization than compensation, titles or the approval of others? What if the simple act of reflection not only sharpened your leadership but also helped you grow as a person? That kind of gift may carry a price tag, but its value is immeasurable.
The benefits of this gift expand when reflection becomes an ongoing practice, but you can start by taking stock of your experiences this year and what you’ve learned about yourself through them. Consider, for example, three to five pivotal moments in your professional life and how you responded to those events when they occurred. Using those moments as a clarifying lens, examine the following areas of your leadership and personal capability, mining for insights as you do. Take time to capture your responses and reflect on them.
Your impact as a leader. Consider how your choices, opinions and actions impacted others, especially your team. Did you provide the kind of clarity and direction that helped people grow and thrive? Did you seek input and insights from others, including those who might think differently from you? Your goal here is to assure others grow through their interactions with you and feel comfortable bringing you honest information, both the good news and the bad.
Self-awareness. In what ways did you grow as a leader this year? What personal growth areas still need attention? How have you responded to feedback, and has it prompted any change in your behaviors or perspectives? Developing greater personal awareness sharpens your ability to help team members examine their own growth goals.
Focus: Did you apply your time and attention this year to the issues of greatest strategic importance? Were your directives and guidance for your team clear and unambiguous so they understood the priorities? Did you actively and consistently cultivate and nurture important relationships with your team and in your life? Your goal here is to manage chaos, provide calm direction and create balance for yourself and your team, ultimately reducing the likelihood of burnout for everyone.
Decision-making. Did you use a process for making decisions this year, and did it work? How much did you rely on your instinct vs data? From whom did you seek input and insight? With the benefit of time, are there decisions you wish you could change? The key to effective leadership is defining how you make decisions, as well as which decisions you’ll make.
Values. Did you make choices and take actions that aligned with your values and those of the organization? Were there times when your values felt compromised, and how did you respond? The goal here is to examine what you believe and how you behaved so you can restore alignment between the two if necessary.
Energy and resilience. What activities or people fueled you most this year and why? What or whom did you find draining, and how did you respond? Where would establishing boundaries allow you to maintain your energy or recover more effectively when faced with challenges? Understanding what renews you and what drains you is a crucial insight that helps build the resilience you need to lead effectively in the long term.
Legacy. What do you most want people to remember about your leadership this year? What is the lasting impact you’d like to have on your organization or industry? Did you make progress in that direction this year? Are you becoming a leader whom you respect and admire? Your goal here is to be a steward of the future you envision for your organization.
Reflection is not a luxury that high-performing leaders defer until the calendar softens. It is a deliberate act of leadership that is practiced precisely when the pressure is greatest. Those who commit to it experience something increasingly rare in a world of constant motion: the clarity to distinguish what truly matters, the humility born of honest self-assessment and the conviction to set direction where ultimate accountability resides. These are not abstract gains. They are powerful advantages that strengthen leaders in moments of uncertainty and endure long after the year has closed.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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