Thanksgiving Reflection Questions for the Woo-Woo Skeptics

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. As a self-described goal-setting-nerd, I love the holiday because it's a time of forced reflection. I get to sit down and think about the year so far and remember all the cool things I got to do - some easy, some hard - and I get to figure out what I want to make sure I do in that year, and what I want to do in the next year. It’s a pseudo preparation for New Year’s Resolutions (don't worry, I'll have

a post more about that in the coming weeks). Thanksgiving is a time when I get to spend time with friends and family, no matter how busy we have gotten over the year. I get to stand by and cheer my favorite humans on as they tell me of their accomplishments or of their trials and tribulations. For an extroverted goal-driven individual, this is delightfully fun. For someone a little more skeptical, someone on the more introverted side, and someone staunchly against goal setting, I can see how this time of year might breed resentment, anxiety, or even fear. Below, I've outlined my ideal science-backed Thanksgiving Reflection Questions for the woo-woo skeptics out there.

What's the goal of this reflection, my skeptical readers? The brain is designed to act on

specific neural pathways built to allow us to take actions with minimal effort. Think about driving a car. Do you actively think about driving the car? Or do you arrive, having had a

good car-karaoke session, somewhat oblivious to how you made it to your destination? This is a prime example of a neural pathway that has been designed in a way that allows the body to act without thinking. Thinking requires energy resources to fuel (e.g. food) the brain, which is expensive. If a human had to go hunt for food every time they need to problem solve, it would be ludicrous. The human race wouldn't have survived. The point of these reflection questions is to give you a tool to identify what things you’re grateful for, so that you can have a list of things you might want to make more space for next year.

1. Think back over the course of the year and remember a time where you felt contentment, or a feeling of joy. Pick one personal and one professional. Don't limit yourself, you can have more than one moment. Answer the following questions about your experience(s):

   1. Where were you?

   2. What were you doing?

   3. Who were you with?

   4. What made this moment so joyful, or you so content?

2. Think about the people you surrounded yourself with over the last year. If you had to pick your top 5 supporters and cheerleaders, who would they be and why?

   1. If you had to choose a panel of your friends and family to be your "Personal Board of Directors" to help you through your career and life, who would they be and why?

3. If you had to describe one activity over the last year as play, which activity would it be? Pick one personal and one professional.

   1. What made you pick that specific activity?

   2. What emotions did you experience while you played? Name specific emotions.

4. What achievement over the last year made you the proudest? Pick one personal and one professional achievement.

   1. Write one paragraph about your achievement pretending like you are writing a blurb for a newspaper. Describe the achievement, highlight any obstacles and how they were smashed down (despite any fears or misgivings). Describe what was impressive about this achievement and how it has changed your outlook on the future.

5. Think about a time where you felt the most grief over the last year (stick with me). What made you cry ugly tears? Pick one personal and one professional.

   1. What did you lose, or what were you most afraid of losing?

   2. What do you value so much, that something could trigger a physical emotional response (crying, heart racing, etc)?

6. Once you have completed the above reflection, take a few minutes to review:

   1. What surprised you the most?

   2. What surprised you the least?

   3. What new values, if any, did you identify?

   4. Where there any differences between your personal and professional personas?

   5. Knowing what you know now, how to you want to incorporate more of the things you are grateful for into your day-to-day life?

      
      

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I challenge you to take some time to sit down and write out the answers to these reflection questions. I promise – knowing yourself won’t be a bad thing! In fact, it will help you build a life and a career you’re aligned with, something that is future-proofed against burnout.

For those of you still thinking “This still seems pretty woo-woo, I’m not seeing how this pertains to my career, improving my leadership skill, or bringing home the bacon. I’m here to read about how executive coaching can make me more successful at work,” let me explain more. These reflections provide a foundation from which to build an action plan for your career. How do you want to show up as a leader? What do you have so much fun doing, that you forget that it’s a skill that someone would pay through the nose for you to do for them because they can’t do it? What strengths do you bring to with you to work each day, that make you a more valuable employee, leader, coach, or mentor? Remember in a digital world, we’re not trading time for money. We’re trading knowledge for money. What expertise are you getting paid for (that you have fun doing!), that sets you apart from your colleagues and peers?

If you’d like to spend more in-depth time on these reflections and build an action plan with someone trained to ask the right questions, help keep you on track and focused, and cheer you along on your journey, don’t hesitate to reach out to see how executive coaching could benefit your situation.