The power of self-reflection in pictures

In the crazy run up to the end of the year you may have forgotten some of the best bits of 2024 that have whizzed by; those bits that contain the emotive energy to power you into next year.

It’s time to look back to look forward, in pictures not numbers.

Everyone has a mixture of high and low points in every year. If you want to shine a light on the positives, in pictures, that then let me introduce you to my Three Lens Reflection Exercise.

The benefit of this particular process is that it will help you keep a balanced perspective about your year. You will be amazed at how full and interesting your year has been when you do this fun, yet poignant, exercise. It will connect you with who you are, not just what you do.

Capture the moments that energised you in pictures rather than numbers

While I love the depth I achieve when writing about my reflections in a journal, there is something special about having a visual reference to the high points in my year that brings them alive in a different way versus measuring growth and success in numbers. It’s not that the numbers aren’t important, but it’s very useful to tap into the emotion behind where you have been and what you have done.

Preparation for my self-reflection exercise

You will need:

A couple of hours
- You owe it to yourself to look back to look forward
Your cellphone
- Where you have captured thousands of pictures and memories showing your year in technicolour
My Reflections of 2024 PowerPoint template and your laptop
- Download the template here
- It has three sections which are the three lenses through which you are going to reflect on your year
  - Joy
  - Growth
  - Excellence
  - See more details below

Three lenses for reflection

Your cellphone is full of thousands of pictures that show your year in technicolour. Now put them to work for you and pull some of the important ones into the template (download here) to create your own private visual record of your year.

I recommend using these three lenses / categories for self-reflection. Joy, growth and excellence, referred to by the media as Nikki Bush’s JGEs.

Joy
- Big and little things that brought you feelings of joy whether it was a drop of water on a rock rose or the birth of a baby
Growth
- What pictures symbolise growth where you improved, healed, reconnected, learnt something new, broke through a barrier, did something different, etc?
Excellence
- Where were you better than good?

What to do to get going:

Start by creating three albums on your cellphone for the three categories above
Select relevant photo’s and dump them into your three albums
Send these selections to your laptop and store in three folders under Photos
From each album pull an even smaller selection into the final PowerPoint template:

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: There will be many images in the sections on joy and growth, but don’t expect more than two or three under excellence. This is entirely normal. Together, all three illustrate your version of success at both work and life this year.