The Leading Edge: The Powerful Law
All Successful People Practice

By: Nicole Karnowski

John Maxwell’s 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth is unparalleled when it comes to personal growth. This book is chock-full of great nuggets to help you grow.

By far my favorite chapter and the law I love most is The Law of Reflection.

It simply says, “Learning to pause allows growth to catch up with you.”  The definition of reflection simply means “serious thought or consideration.” There are many reasons why this particular law and practice resonates with me.

First, it is the one my husband and I consistently apply to see results in our own lives. Daily. Weekly. Monthly. Yearly. We consistently reflect individually and collectively, asking ourselves, “What is going well? What could we do better, or what needs to improve?”

Over time, this has helped us to be more self-aware. Also, when failure comes (and it will!), you can have a sense of humor and learn valuable lessons from reflecting. We are on a growth journey, and the Law of Reflection is a steady travel companion that never fails.

John shares this quote from Peter Drucker in the book, “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” I have found this to be true with our coaching clients too.

On more than one occasion I have witnessed the power of breakthrough when a person prioritizes even just one hour to pause, think and reflect. People often think they are too busy to take time to “do nothing” but fail to realize taking time to pause can actually be a catalyst to catapult you into creativity and greater productivity.

Recently, a coaching client was struggling, unable to focus. She was swirling with activity, so I encouraged her to take some time to put reflection into practice. It was amazing what this exercise did for her. She came back and shared new insights. She also brought some fresh ideas that helped her move forward.

John Maxwell sums it up best, “Reflection turns experience into insight and evaluated experience is the best teacher.” Often the hardest part is just beginning the practice.

If you would like to start, but you are not sure what to do, simply find a quiet, peaceful spot and set aside some quiet time without interruptions. Then, decide what area of your life you would like to focus on. Some topics may be family, business, finances, health or whatever else you deem important.

Then, start with some general questions like these:

• What is going well?
• What could go better?
• What do I need to change to meet my goals?
• What do I excel at? What are my strengths?
• What are my weaknesses?
• How can I spend more time doing what I do well and less time doing what I don’t do well?
• How can I creatively solve the problem at hand?

Of course, these are just examples. Your questions will change and be different based on your circumstances. You create your own questions for your specific situation. Remember, the quality of the questions you ask will determine the quality of your answers.

Still wondering if taking time to reflect is worth it or if you can afford to take the time? Well, did you know the top 1-percent of all successful business owners consistently take time to reflect? These famous folks do it and may encourage you to try it too:

• Warren Buffet, CEO of the fourth largest country in the country, spends, by his own estimate, 80-percent of his career reading and thinking.
• AOL CEO Tim Armstrong makes his executives spend 10-percent for their day or four hours per week just thinking.
• Bill Gates is famous for taking a week off twice a year to reflect deeply without interruption.
• John Maxwell reflects daily, weekly and monthly.  He also does a longer yearly reflection right around the end of the year to see what went well and what could have gone better to set intentions for the new year.

There are countless other success stories, all with the common thread that reflection helped them think bigger and better in life, family and business.

Reflecting is just one of the 15 Laws you will learn on this growth journey. As always, great information won’t change us. It’s the application of that information that helps us get the results we want in our lives.

Pick up the book or join us or another John Maxwell Team member for a mastermind group. In the meantime, don’t forget to try reflecting and see what it can do for you. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

 

Nicole Karnowski is a John Maxwell Certified Coach, Speaker and Trainer. She and her husband own Metamorphosis CCT (Coaching, Consulting and Training), a people development company. They have trained teams internationally and develop individuals and leaders by coaching, consulting and training on foundational leadership and communication principles to help people grow themselves and their leadership to impact the world around them for good. Nicole is also a Human Behavior Consultant that trains on the human behavior model of DISC to improve communication with families and teams.  She also enjoys coaching entrepreneurial women through transitions and life changes.

Nicole lives in Duluth, Minnesota, loves skate skiing with her husband, hiking the great Northwoods with her family and reading everything leadership and personal growth and development.  You can learn more about Nicole at www.metamorphosiscct.com.