Reflection & deep work: the secret success factors for more focus and (female) self-determination

In this article, I would like to focus on the topics of “Reflection & Deep Work”, because female empowerment also means making conscious decisions for your own (professional) development and actively working towards a fulfilled, self-determined life. A particularly effective characteristic for self-empowerment is the ability to reflect – because those who consciously deal with their own experiences strengthen their mental resilience and focus on what really matters.

Memento Mori: Harnessing the power of transience

One of the most impressive methods of making your own life more conscious is to use the Memento Mori calendar to start. This calendar visualizes each week of life as a small dot or box, becoming a powerful visual reminder that our time is limited. Looking at the (average!) remaining weeks of your life can help you to consciously set priorities, focus on the essentials and fill your time with meaningful moments.

Don’t get me wrong, of course we also have to earn money, run the household and possibly even do care work, but if we manage to create small moments of mindfulness throughout the day, this can completely change our perspective and perhaps even have a positive influence on our habits.

The 3-W method – reflection in practice

As pure mental reflection alone is usually not sufficient impetus to really make a lasting change, we need to go one step further to sort out and write down our thoughts. The so-called “3-W method” can help us to record our progress and strengthen ourselves mentally. This daily reflection task gives us the opportunity to write down all the experiences that consciously or unconsciously occupy us on a daily basis in the context of 3 simple questions, thereby at least partially removing their power over our mental well-being.

These questions are:

  1. What have I learned today?
  2. What challenged me?
  3. What am I grateful for?

Answering these questions not only helps to consciously end the day, but also to develop a positive mindset in the long term and to go through life more consciously.

The five pillars of prosperity for a fulfilled life

From daily reflection, we can now take the next step and venture into the area of decision-making, naturally combining the two areas. According to Sahil Bloom, author of the book “The 5 Types of Wealth“, true wealth is not just financial. Rather, a fulfilled life is based on five dimensions that are closely linked to our lifetime and our decisions:

  1. Time prosperity – The most valuable resource is our time. By setting clear priorities, you gain more control over your life.
  2. Social relationships – Close connections with inspiring people promote personal growth and general well-being.
  3. Mental health – A healthy mind and a healthy soul ensure better decision-making skills and more joie de vivre. Journaling or meditation can help to create emotional balance.
  4. Physical health – Regular exercise and a healthy diet are essential for staying energized throughout the day.
  5. Financial wealth – Money is a tool to gain more freedom for the things, experiences and people we want to spend our time with, but it should never become a self-declared goal.

These five pillars can be strengthened in a targeted manner – a path that is made possible through conscious reflection and focused work. To do this, we first need to be aware of which of these “dimensions of prosperity” may still be lacking and should be strengthened. Of course, it is not necessary to find a balance in all areas of life, as this is a mental utopia that we are often told by success gurus and career advisors, but which usually does not stand up to the “reality check” and only leads to stress. Instead, the recommendation would be to dedicate yourself to one area and try out the extent to which there is scope to develop it to your own satisfaction.

This is where we take the final step, because now Deep Work comes into play.

Deep Work: The game changer

To be honest, we all find it difficult to focus on essential tasks in the daily hustle and bustle full of distractions and multitasking.

But we also know that targeted progress is made when we work on something with our full attention. Deep work is a method for integrating focused, undisturbed phases of work into everyday life and thus becoming more productive, creative and resilient. We women in particular, who often have to juggle a career, family and our own projects, can benefit from this method, as it can be integrated into our everyday lives in a variety of ways.

How deep work can work in everyday life:

  1. The monk method – If you have the luxury, this method allows you to switch off completely and concentrate on one task or a specific topic for several days or weeks. A classic example of this is Bill Gates, who does this at least once a year in order to grow personally and immerse himself in the literary world of other great thinkers. Another example is scientific work or projects that often require your full attention over a very long period of time.
  2. Block method – If you can’t just spend a few weeks in a secluded cabin reading books and listening to exciting podcasts, this method will at least give you the opportunity to schedule targeted deep-work days without meetings or distractions. Perhaps you have a “Focus Friday” or a “Flow Sunday”, i.e. a specific period of time during the week when you can briefly escape the daily grind and work on your topics without distractions. In many companies, such “deep-dive days” are already common practice to give employees the opportunity to work intensively on a challenge without permanently interrupting the company’s entire operations. The two go hand in hand here.
  3. Habit method – Set up fixed deep work times every day to achieve continuous progress. Your concentration times are neither long-term projects (= monk method) nor short-term flexible phases (block method), but daily habits such as eating, sleeping, exercising, etc. and are noted accordingly in the calendar. This is not about weeks or a specific day, but about the daily implementation of your concentration time in your everyday life. Admittedly, this method is not feasible for everyone and should be used with caution. It should be avoided above all by people who already have enough to-dos on their list and would only put themselves under pressure with an additional daily task. The block method would make much more sense for this group of people, as it does not generate as much stress. However, for those who love the daily “habit dose” and feel more productive and balanced as a result, it is again ideal and can even be tracked using a daily “tracker” to take advantage of the dopamine kick when “ticking off” a successfully completed task.
  4. Opportunity method – make effective use of small windows of time in everyday life to stay productive despite a full calendar. This is the method for all the “flexibility queens” among us. Children can get sick, daycare can be canceled, we work shifts or have to do care work. To avoid going completely mad in the daily madness, this method helps us to plan occasional periods of intense concentration without this planning immediately turning into frustration because external circumstances force us to completely reschedule. It is important to remember that if the appointment is in the calendar, it is not a bad thing if it cannot be kept, but it should be postponed by 1-2 weeks at most and never deleted completely, because when time is tight, we mainly save on ourselves and our development time and once the appointment falls out of our field of vision, it is difficult to find a time slot in the calendar that fits again, because we torpedo ourselves too quickly here and always find tasks and topics that seem more and more important and at some point, “deep work” no longer plays a role at all.

Practical tips for more focus & resilience

To really integrate deep work and reflection into your everyday life, I have a few final “emergency strategies” for you:

  • Consciously reduce distractions – turn off your cell phone, block social media, close the door (if the child and dogs allow it).
  • Use a starter routine – music, tea or a specific workspace signal to your brain: now is focus time!
  • Get into action – use what you have read to choose a method you want to start with. We spend far too long “consuming” clever tips and exciting content, but the magic only happens when we get moving and implement what we have read, heard or seen.

Your path to more self-determination

International Women’s Day is not just an occasion to look back on successes – it is also an invitation to invest in our own strength and self-efficacy, because it is not for nothing that female empowerment means “female self-empowerment”. By consciously shaping our time, integrating reflection into our everyday lives and focusing on what really matters to us, we create a personally fulfilling and self-determined life in which we decide for ourselves how we want to shape our time on this earth.

So the final question is:

What steps will you take next to make good decisions, strengthen your own mental resilience and decision-making skills and/or use targeted concentration time to develop yourself personally/professionally?

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