Ruthann M. Wilson

Weekly Reflection for Personal Growth

Reflection is a powerful way to learn, grow, and keep moving forward. Taking time over the weekend to look back and look forward to the week ahead will help you keep your life in progress and your goals on track. Small changes on a weekly basis can have a tremendous effect on your life.

Make a commitment to spend 15-20 minutes over the weekend (Saturday or Sunday) to first, look back and then, look forward. I have outlined a few questions, best answered in writing, to help get you started.

Look back

What did I accomplish?
What didn’t I accomplish that I wanted to? Why?
What did I learn?
How did I grow?
What’s working/going well?
What’s not working/not going well? What can I do to shift or neutralize what’s not working?
Who or what was my greatest blessing?
How was I a blessing to others?

Look forward

What are my top priorities for the week ahead? Why are these priorities?
Based on my review of last week, what might I do differently in the coming week?

Use the power of reflection on a weekly basis to help you learn, grow, and keep moving forward.

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All the best,

Ruthann

Effective Goal Setting: Stay Focused and Thrive

One of the best ways to focus your time, energy, and money is to set a goal. Goals enable you to go from hoping and wishing to manifesting what you desire.

The journey from setting to achieving goals is fraught with obstacles, challenges, and distractions. If we are not laser focused on what truly matters, little by little, we can lose sight of our goals.

It is a great time in the new year to do a progress check. Spend some time today considering the following questions:

Is the way I am spending my time, energy, and money helping me create what I envisioned for my life?
Am I creating and nurturing the relationships I need to bring my goals to life?

If you don’t feel like you are making progress toward your goals, consider taking the following actions:

Keep track of how you are spending your time, energy, and money in a journal or notebook every day for the next seven days. Use the results to see where you need to make adjustments in support of your goals. Small changes on a daily basis can have a big effect.
Make a commitment to nurture your personal and professional network. Commit through action: make a call, send an email, or set up time to meet in person.
Ensure your goals are SMART, use positive language, and affirm what you want to create versus what you want to avoid.

Have fun, make changes where changes are needed, and trust the process in life and in your career as you bring your goals to life.

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All the best,

Ruthann

Why Clarifying Your Values Matters

The next time you find yourself looking for a reason why you haven’t started, completed, or followed through on something, take a step back and ask yourself if it is really important to you. If the answer is yes, spend some time exploring why it is important. When you ask yourself why something is important, you are tapping into your personal values.

Your values are always at work in your life whether you are fully aware of them or not. Clarifying them and using them as a guide can change your life. If you haven’t taken the time to clarify your values/what is most important to you in writing, I encourage you to make it a priority. Life flows when you are clear on your values.

We are likely to struggle to keep commitments when they are not clearly connected to personal values. When this happens, commitments tend to be rooted in fear and obligation rather than rooted in your heart.

Today is a great day to evaluate your commitments to ensure they are in alignment with your values. If not, give yourself permission to make changes or let them go.

Clarify what is most important to you and why. It will help you manifest what you desire.

Clarifying your values ensures that your career choices are authentic and sustainable, guiding decisions about roles, promotions, and leadership.

Need support? Be True to You: A Practical Guide to Pursuing an Authentic Path is designed to help you clarify what is most important to you and bring it to life. Click here to learn more about Be True to You.

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All the best,

Ruthann

How to Truly Apologize: Steps for Authentic Repair and Growth

“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”

—Benjamin Franklin

The best way to say “I am sorry” is to say “I am sorry” and support your words with action. Anytime we say “I am sorry, but…” we have cancelled the apology and shifted into defense mode. What typically follows the word ‘but’ is an excuse for what we said, did, or didn’t do.

“I am sorry, but you made me angry.”
“I am sorry, but it wasn’t really my fault”.
“I am sorry, but [fill in the blank].”

Extending an apology to someone we have hurt or offended is an act of humility and a way of acknowledging the other person’s feelings and the importance of the relationship.

If you are someone that typically adds ‘but’ to your apologies, ask yourself why? Use what you learn through self-reflection to grow. Be clear as to why you are apologizing and extend your apology from the heart—an excuse free zone.

Take Action

Is there a relationship in your life that could benefit from an excuse free apology? If yes, take action, extend your apology and support your words with action.

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All the best,

Ruthann

Understanding Commitment vs. Attachment in Goal Setting

“Be committed, not attached; but more importantly, know the difference.”

—Anonymous

The difference between being committed vs. being attached is trust.

Trust enables you to dream big, set goals, work toward your goals, and stay open to more than one outcome. Trust enables you to ask “what did I learn?”, “how did I grow?” when things don’t go as you planned.

Commit to taking the action needed to bring your goals to life, but don’t become attached to a specific outcome. When we are attached to a specific outcome, we try to control the process rather than trust the process. Trust will enable you to keep your mind focused and your heart open to possibilities as you pursue your goals. The true power of commitment lies in your ability to make decisions, act on your decisions, and trust the process of bringing your goals to life.

In your career, commitment means taking consistent action, while trust keeps you open to opportunities that may unfold differently than planned.

Need help staying open to guidance? I invite you to read my post Embrace Possibility: 3 Transformative Tips.

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All the best,

Ruthann

Release the Past: Reflection Practices for Healing and Moving Forward

I can think of a time in my life when my primary focus was on past mistakes, missed opportunities, and the wrong doing of others. It was a dead end focus that kept me anchored in the past, silently suffering in the present, and not truly moving forward.

Through an ongoing process of forgiveness, I learned to release the past, resentment, and anger that I felt toward myself and others. Instead of looking back on challenging or painful situations with resentment and regret, I began to look back and ask what I learned about myself (first and foremost) and others and how the ‘lessons learned’ could help me grow. This was an ongoing process that helped me get unstuck and move forward.

The first step to release the past is to decide to release the past. There is great power in deciding to let it go. There is even more power in writing your decision down.

Once you have affirmed your decision to release the past in writing, sit with your decision in silence and allow your wise self that awaits you in silence to guide your steps forward. You have the power to release the past so that you can begin to truly moving forward.

Questions for reflection:

What in my past is keeping me from enjoying the present?
What in my past is keeping me from proactively creating my future?
What steps can I take to release the past so that I can truly move forward?

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All the best,

Ruthann

The Power of Silence: Embracing Solitude for Inner Peace

“Let silence take you to the core of your life.”

—Rumi

When I was growing up, my mom used to make me and my siblings spend time alone on a regular basis. She felt it was important for us to learn to enjoy our own company and not feel compelled to fill our time with other people or activities to be content and happy.

Spending time alone was never an issue for me. I am an introvert by nature and quiet time alone is how I recharge and reenergize. I looked forward to and enjoyed my time alone.

As I look back on my childhood, I feel a deep sense of gratitude to my mom for laying the foundation for what has proven to be a very important daily practice—time alone in silence to cultivate patience, peace of mind, and trust in the process of being internally guided.

If you don’t already have a regular practice of spending time alone in silence, I encourage you to create time in your day to be still and silent. Strive for 15-20 minutes in silence each day.

If sitting in silence is new to you, start small. Take five minutes or ten minutes out of your day. Set a timer so that you can be fully present to the moment and not watching the clock. You may want to consider using your breath as a focal point for your time in silence. When the timer goes off, bring your quiet time to a close in a spirit of gratitude for the gift of silence. Capture your experience of going within in a journal or notebook.

In the beginning, the benefits of spending time in silence may not be obvious, however, as you continue with this practice, I believe you will feel a deeper sense of peace, calm, and balance. Give yourself the gift of silence.

Questions for reflection:

Are you comfortable being alone? If not, why not?
Are you comfortable in silence? If not, why not?

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All the best,

Ruthann

Create a New Chapter in Your Life

“And suddenly you just know…it’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”

—Meister Eckhart

A new beginning provides us with the opportunity to create a new chapter in our lives. To get the most out of your fresh start, spend some time reflecting on what is complete and ready to be released, and what you are inspired to begin. Here are a few questions for reflection:

What did I accomplish recently?
What didn’t I accomplish that I really wanted to? Why?
Who or what was my greatest blessing? Why?
What is complete in my life and ready to be released so that I can begin a new chapter?
What am I inspired to begin now?

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Ruthann

Create Your Own Happiness: Discover Joy by Choosing What You Love Each Day

Happiness is an inside job—it’s not something that you go out and find, it’s something that you create from the inside out. How much time have you scheduled this week for things that you truly enjoy?

In preparation for the coming week, I invite you to create a “top 10 list” of things that you enjoy. It can be as simple as reading, writing, walking, spending time with others, or spending time alone. Search your heart and make the list your own.

Take Action

Make time in your day (every day) to do at least one thing that you truly enjoy.

In full disclosure, this post was inspired by my own realization that I didn’t have enough things that are special to me on my list of things to do. I love to browse bookstores; however, I have not browsed in a long time. It’s on my list of things to do this week.

Create Your Own Happiness

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All the best,

Ruthann

In-Progress, LLC | Walk your path with intention, at your own pace

Organize for Success: Five Steps to Turn Vision into Action

Success begins with vision, but it takes organization to bring that vision to life. These five steps will help you move from inspiration to action with clarity and confidence.

I have outlined five steps, best accomplished in writing, to help you begin the process.

Step one is to determine your goal/desired outcome.

What does success look like? Envision what you desire and capture your vision on paper through words and/or images. Consider creating a vision board.

Step two is to determine why your desired outcome is important to you.

Why do you want what you have outlined in step one? What is your motivation?

Step three is to identify obstacles to reaching your goal and ways to overcome.

What might get in the way of you reaching your goal? How will you overcome?

Step four is to determine what resources you will need to bring your vision to life.

What will it take to bring your vision to life in terms of time, energy, money, and others? Be specific and realistic.
Plan backward.

Step five is to implement your plan.

What is one thing you can do this week to stay true to your vision of success?

In your career, organizing resources with a clear vision ensures that projects, priorities, and opportunities move forward with focus and integrity.

Thank you for pausing here. If my writing has offered meaningful insight or sparked a shift in you, I would be honored to hear what stayed with you.

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Success begins with vision and grows through the steps you take with focus and integrity.

All the best,

Ruthann

In-Progress, LLC | Walk your path with intention, at your own pace