A new year filled with new opportunities for leadership

At the entrance of a new year, many of us make promises to change our life. Eat more healthy, to workout more, to work less, to spend more time with family and friends, to stop smoking, to enjoy life more - the alternatives are vast, and many succeed.

If there is one thing I would like to challenge you into doing this year - it is to set aside 10 minutes every working day to reflect. Make it a habit! Choose a specific time each day, and block it out in your calendar if you have to in order to not being disturbed. Turn off your phone, don’t check your e-mail - as a matter of fact, turn off the computer.

Some ideas as to places to reflect are:

• if commuting, use the time when traveling
• take some time during lunch-break
• lock yourself in your office
• take a walk around the block (and you get some other nice benefits too)
• spend 10 minutes in bed before you fall a sleep, or when you wake up in the morning (this one is not easy for me...)
• if you workout (you do right?) make sure to leave your phone in the locker, and spend the time in the gym reflecting. This one also works wonders if you run, cycle, swim or use any other form for sport where you can think.

Now that you have some ideas about where and when to reflect, the challenge is to know what to reflect about. This is quite easy too - the goal of your reflection is to make you better at what you do - being a better leader, a better co-worker, a better person. The Leaders Workbook comes with 22 different topics to reflect upon - including topics like Inspiration, Mentoring, Mental Health, Presentation Skills and more.

Share your favourite topics of reflection in the comments below, or on the Facebook page (see badge to the right). The more ideas we share with each others, the better we become!