Episode 61: The Deliberate Start-Looking Back to Look Forward
What You’ll Learn
Self Reflection (02:05)
Personal Reflection (03:30)
Spiritual Reflection (09:05)
Family Reflection (14:40)
Home Reflection (21:05)
Finance Reflection (31:45)
Business Reflection (37:05)
Homeschool Reflection (37:40)
Invitation (38:23)
Moms get to have goals too…whether you’re a stay at home mom who’s immersed in raising little ones, a mom who feels like she’s barely surviving, or a mom who’s balancing homeschooling, a side hustle or ALL OF THE ABOVE. We’re here to tell you, you get to have goals.
For the next five days we’re taking you step by step through goal planning for REAL moms. From an intimate self-reflection, to figuring out what you want, aligning those dreams with your own priorities, creating a goal or two and making plans to reach it, and finally a 30-day assessment to help you get more and more traction as you crush your goals.
After years of goal planning as moms of many, we’ve tested countless frameworks from various experts and that has really shaped what we’re using today. We’re working from a resource we created called the Deliberate Start. It’s an incredible guide designed specifically for mothers. It includes 3 sections, the Deliberate Reflection, Deliberate Beginnings, and Deliberate Goal Planning.
The prompts are designed to guide you and ask you good questions, there are checklists to spur your creativity and dreams when your mom brain is tired. Whether you’re brand new to goal planning or a seasoned planner, you’re going to hear something on this podcast, or you’re going to find something in the Deliberate Start that you’ve never considered before.
Self Reflection (02:05)
So what is self-reflection and why does it matter for your goals/vocation/passions (even those you might have forgotten or feel like don’t exist because you don’t think you have time for them)?
Self-reflection is simply the process of bringing your attention to your character, actions, and motives.
When we pause to reflect, we give our brains the chance to untangle and sort through our days, experiences, emotions, routines, challenges, strengths…essentially all the aspects that make up our motherhood. We begin to find meaning and understanding that in-turn becomes the basis in knowing ourselves better and understanding where we are in our journey. This knowing informs our mindset which directly affects our future thoughts and actions.
Here’s where you need to grab a pen and paper and be ready to pause this podcast….unless of course you’re driving, in which case listen away, think on your answers, then grab a pen and paper and come back to fill them in!
We’d love to share every piece of the Deliberate Reflection chapter, but it's such a beautiful and substantial resource that there is no way we could walk you through every question in just one podcast episode. So instead today we're going to get you started with a few questions from each section of it.
Personal Reflection (03:30)
Ever so much grace can be found in our personal reflections if we allow it. In the guide we walk you through both the beauty and the challenges that came because our journey is built on both and both are necessary; both encourage growth, give us life, and make us stronger.
What brought joy or peace for you this past year?
What did you do for your overall health this past year?
What wins or accomplishments are you proud of?
Spiritual Reflection (09:05)
There is a sense of rest that comes from being well rooted in Christ. Bringing to him our difficult moments, decisions, or even children and spouses, especially when they feel bigger than us, or when we are feeling empty or not enough.
How did you prioritize your relationship with Christ?
Where do you see or experience grace or answered prayers?
What were sources of inspiration?
Family Reflection (14:40)
When it comes to the family reflection, these are our people, the ones we belong to, the ones we feel safe with, and share love with. Where grace and love are extended and needed. Where challenges and hard growth are met in equal and important measure with comfort, strength and wisdom. These things that make up who we are as a family!
What challenges did you work on?
What character strengths did you see?
Where did your family make a difference?
What children am I selling to a circus in 2023? (We kid…but really).
Home Reflection (21:05)
Home is a place of belonging. A place of comfort to recharge and be strengthened. As mothers, it's also the foundation of our days. It's our first school room. It's where meals are shared. It's where the laundry piles up. It's where birthdays and holidays and memories are celebrated....and sometimes...it's where we feel the most overwhelmed, or exhausted, or worn thin. Remember that if that's your story right now, it's not forever...
What is an important life note?
What house rules brought value to your family?
What spaces brought you joy?
Finance Reflection (31:45)
After this year I think the majority of us want to shrink when we hear finances...but some of our greatest adulting lessons come from managing money for our families and homes. Money isn't everything, but it does serve us in many ways. How did you allow your finances to be a reflection of the life and family you are cultivating in your life & your home?
What were the biggest budget busters this year?
What the best financial decision you made?
What was your financial focus on (charity, saving, investing, surviving, paying down debt, budgeting)?
We can't go into these next two sections due to time constraints, but we wanted to give you a little food for thought on these two topics anyway...
Business Reflection (37:05)
Whether you're already a mompreneur or an aspiring mompreneur, you started wearing different hats when your first child was born, so adding "Brilliant Business Woman" isn't much more of a stretch. Just like when you brought that beautiful baby home from the hospital with no prior experience of having your own child, business building is much the same.
How did you and your business grow this past year?
Homeschool Reflection (37:40)
For our fellow homeschool mommas, when we look back on our homeschool journey often we don't even realize that we ourselves are our greatest student. This homeschool journey is as much ours as it is our children's. What affected you this year? What brought you joy, or challenges? What strengths did you hone or discover?
This is a reflection, but remember that the dreaming is coming! If you’re still here (of course you are), and these answers aren’t exactly what you hoped…or if they made you a little sad, it’s ok, because 2022 was tough for a lot of us. Come back tomorrow for some dreaming, some encouragement, and some thought-provoking questions.
Invitation (38:23)
We’ve picked out only a few questions from each category in the Deliberate Reflection to share with you here on the podcast...But if you loved what you heard and want to dig deeper with a beautiful workbook and resources you can use again and again, head over to our website, www.thedeliberateday.org, and get your copy of the Deliberate Start Guide today!
