Creating a sustainable, life-giving Rhythm of Life & Leadership is only possible if you treat it as a living, moving, adaptable way of being. That means having a regular rhythm of reviewing, revising, and recommitting.
While I always hope to do some kind of review regularly, I confess I hope more than I do! However, I don’t miss an Annual Rhythm Review because it has been so helpful and anchoring every year and I can see how it makes a difference. It’s also nice that with New Year comes a lot of reminders and motivation. Especially as we launch into a whole new decade.
The goal of doing some kind of regular Rhythm Review is to keep you realistic and engaged. It’s how you create opportunities to make adjustments, like a GPS on a journey. This is how you practice intentionalism and make sure you haven’t slipped into habits or patterns that work against who you want to be in the world.
Here are some suggestions for how to do it:
Schedule it:
Pick a day / time / place and commit to it. This doesn’t have to take all day – 30-90 minutes will suffice. Take more time if you want, but keep it doable.
Come prepared:
Choose paper, pen, computer, journal, and be ready to make notes — whatever you tend to use for your Rhythm reflections is best. You may use spreadsheets, lists, drawing, apps, journal. Whatever it is, use what suits you. Just don’t let complexity keep you from doing it!
Have your full calendar:
Your actual calendar helps you be real and specific. Look back over your year and notice what was significant.
- Remind yourself what you did, where you went, what happened.
- What were key events, meetings, happenings, adventures — planned and unplanned?
- What are regular things you did that don’t appear on your calendar but made up your regular rhythm? (Commute, gym, food prep, church, brunch, etc)
- I noticed that my phone doesn’t keep a full year downloaded, so I need my laptop to get all the data.
- If you keep a journal, use that as a resource as well. I try to journal daily what I’m grateful for, reflecting on, and what actions I’m focusing on. Todo lists and project lists are also great review tools.
Think Holistically:
Check in across all domains of your life and notice what specifics come up in each area. Use your calendar, bank account, FitBit, shopping list, etc to be as realistic as you can and notice if you are living into your best you. Are you living with intention in these areas?
- Relational
- Financial
- Physical
- Mental
- Emotional
- Spiritual
- Vocational
- Aspriational
- Be present to the big things and the little things that made a difference both positively and negatively.
Reflect & Take Action:
Use the 4 Gs below to help you reflect and then commit to specific actions in the new year. (Hey, you have to go with some good alliteration when it works!) Remember to make lists, spreadsheets, journal, drawings, whatever suits you to engage this fully!
Grace:
If you are normal, you will look back and see you messed up, missed something, didn’t hit a target, took steps back, weren’t the ideal vision of the you you want to be.
- Use this as a moment to notice where, how, when, with whom.
- Feel what you need to feel (disappointment, frustration, anger, grief)
- Then receive grace. Breathe deeply, open your hands, visualize yourself receiving the love and grace of God and good friends. Receive grace.
Part of receiving grace is also so you can give grace.
- Looking back over the year, who are the people, institutions, moments that let you down, beat you up, crossed a boundary, said or did something hurtful?
- Feel that pain, disappointment, rejection – whatever you need to feel.
- Breathe deeply, open your hands, and give to others out of the grace and love you received for yourself.
- Visualize the person, place, thing. Visualize you giving grace.
- Release. Forgive. There is enough grace to go around.
- Keep breathing in and receiving grace for yourself, and keep breathing out grace for others.
Gratitude:
Think big and small.
- What brought you joy this year?
- What do you celebrate?
- What was fun, life-giving, powerful, transformational?
- What were tiny things that made life delightful?
- Write it down. Don’t stop until you have at least….20? (Pick a number. Remember, it’s gratitude big and small.)
- Share specifics with others. Send cards or text messages. Say thank you in person.
- Surprise people that you noticed or are still grateful. Be generous with gratitude.
Your personality will tilt you one direction or another. Some of us need to pause for grace and gratitude because we move on to the next thing quickly and tend to only look ahead. Others of us need to pause for grace and gratitude because we got stuck looking back and it is time to move on. Be present in this moment to who you are and what God is inviting you to.
Give:
- How have you used your time, talents, resources to give back and serve others?
- Where did you feel a spark of anger or injustice and took action to respond?
- Where do feel stuck and that you haven’t known how to respond?
- What ways did you give and serve that made you come alive?
- How do you give best and make the most impact because it aligns with who you are and your calling in the world?
- Look at your finances, but don’t limit your giving to money. Think about how you gave out of all of who you are – your home, your professional skills, your listening ear, etc.
Whenever I feel stressed about money or feel cynical about the world, I give.
Whenever I feel my fist clenching out of fear, or lack, or survival — I find opening it in a gesture of generosity helps me move past that fear, anger, stuck-ness, loneliness. I will physically open my hands and lift them in prayer, then immediately do or schedule some kind of giving action. Writing this makes me realize I have some action to take even now.
Grow:
- What have you learned this last year?
- Where did you awaken to something new or different or beautiful or unjust?
- How have you changed?
- Where have you made progress?
- Where are you better?
- Where do you see movement? Not complete victory from A-Z or 0-100. Think small, incremental growth and notice that. To get from A-Z you have to move from L-N. Notice that and what moves you can take next year.
- Where do you notice you need to grow?
- Are you stuck?
- Have you experienced set-backs?
- Is there an area you need to learn or read or practice more?
- Is there any attitude, action, or behavior you notice keeps coming up in you OR has been pointed out to you by friends, mentors, or supervisors?
Look Ahead to 2020: Revise & Recommit
By conducting a Rhythm Review you gain invaluable information to help you revise your rhythm and recommit to life-giving rhythms in the year ahead. Don’t waste what you’ve learned! Put it to good use. Be practical.
- What do you want to schedule in for the year ahead? Think daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually.
- What do you want to add to your calendar (you can make adjustments as needed, but getting things penciled in is often better than thinking “I should”.)
- What do you want to take out of your schedule and not do again this year? Your time is limited and valuable. If that annual banquet or recurring thing doesn’t serve you or the world, why go? If you kept meaning to do something all year and only got to it once or not at all, is that what you want to have happen again?
- What worked well that you should keep doing?
- What did not work or didn’t have the impact you thought it would?
- Is there a word or phrase or specific action / behavior you want to focus on this year?
- Write it down. Schedule it. Make some commitments. Find people to share them with.
In the next post I will share about how setting up your Rhythm of Life & Leadership is more about your systems than it is about your resolutions or goals. That will be a great next step for you to take your Annual Rhythm Review to the next level.
Final take away:
Awareness one of the most helpful tools we have. The more you do Rhythm Reviews, the easier it will be to keep it real and sustainable. Like the more consistently you work out, the easier it is to work out… It takes less time to rework your Rhythm if you have a regular routine for doing it. So schedule another time to check in! Put it in your calendar! It keeps momentum going!
If I can help support you in any way, reach out via the contact form or in the social media!
