Taking stock

Hi friends,

A very short post this week. We’re a couple of days out from the June solstice and approaching the halfway point in the year, so here is your nudge to take some time out to pause and reflect on the first half of 2023.

I will be sitting down one evening in the week ahead to revisit the goals I set for myself on January 1st and review my progress. As I’ve written about in the past, I try to automate as many behaviours as possible and set myself rules so that I continue to progress towards my various goals irrespective of my level of motivation or however busy or distracted I may be. However, I have been very busy with travelling this year, which can sometimes make it challenging to stick to the plans, so I’m looking forward to conducting a mid-year check to identify the areas I may have unwittingly neglected.

The benefits of a mid-year review

Conducting a mid-year review of your personal life offers numerous benefits. Firstly, it provides an opportunity for self-reflection, allowing you to assess your progress towards your goals and make necessary adjustments. It promotes self-awareness, helping you identify areas of strength and areas that require improvement. Reviewing successful accomplishments can boost motivation and confidence to push yourself further. Additionally, a mid-year review allows you to evaluate your work-life balance. It helps you stay focused and maintain momentum for the remainder of the year.

Regular reflection enables us to make informed decisions, adapt to changing circumstances, and achieve more significant personal growth and fulfilment for the same amount of input.

Implementation idea

Take some time in the week ahead to reflect on your progress this year.

If you previously set yourself goals, critically assess each one. For those that didn’t set goals, think about how the year has gone so far versus how you would have expected it to evolve.

When conducting the exercise, here are six posts from the Plane Thoughts archive which may assist you:

• Start by subtracting: Achieving goals by first removing bad habits (link)

• The post-mortem: Examining our failings to improve future decisions (link)

• Turning the best choice into the default choice: Using rules to eliminate willpower (link)

• Building habits around desired identity instead of desired outcomes (link)

• Maintaining habits whilst travelling (link)

• The power of feedback: Regular feedback is crucial for personal growth (link)

I’d love to hear how you’re getting on this year and how Plane Thoughts may have helped you progress towards your goals. Additionally, suggestions for content for the second half of the year would be greatly appreciated, as well as any feedback you have on the newsletter. Hit reply to reach out to me directly.

Best,

Alex Joshi

On my bedside table:

• Podcast: Huberman Lab - Dr Susanna Søberg: How to use cold and heat exposure to improve your health (link)

Comments, questions, disagreements? Hit reply to reach out to me directly.

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