The Reflect Back Look Forward Exercise (RBLF)
The fastest way to your best year (and life!) yet.
FORMAT
Google Doc
TIME TO IMPLEMENT
5 hours
(all at once, or an hour a day for five days)
BEST FOR
Everyone (Spouses and team members, too. Can also be adapted as a family exercise)
“Reflection turns experience into insight”
Ever wish you could stop time for just a moment and look back at everything you’ve done—and do it all again, but (way) better?
The Reflect Back Look Forward tool does just that. It not only captures your past lessons learned and harnesses that knowledge for a badass future—it helps you make the most of your reflection time (which we know is tough to come by!). Broken down into five one-and-done modules, it can be completed over time—or all in one go—with guided prompts, supportive worksheets, and more!
This exercise is TLP Founder Bill Watkin’s favorite annual tradition for a reason—and one he credits for much of his success, happiness, health, and life satisfaction. Keep reading to find out why it’s so powerful.
What it does
The Reflect Back Look Forward exercise (available for free here) helps you create meaningful and lasting awareness, appreciation, and change. It helps you
Get free of what is holding you back,
Get clear about where you are and what you want
Get going with what you can implement now to start living the desired future as soon as possible.
What are you waiting for? Start now!
How to put the RBLF to work
Start by carving out a block of uninterrupted time for you to focus. This could be 20 minutes to an hour a day over a series of days or one full day away from daily distractions. Whatever you do—don’t rush it. The five modules of the RBLF are designed to prompt you through the process with intention, helping you organize not only your thoughts, but your resources, goals, and motivations for the year ahead.
Here are a few tips to help you make the most of this rewarding exercise.
Module 1: Reflect Back
Keep your life wheel, journals, calendars, photo albums, digital photo galleries, and even your business financial reports handy to jog your memory of the past year. We are what we’ve learned—and you don’t want to miss anything!
Module 2: Look Around
With a firm understanding of what you’ve learned, you’ll then evaluate what you have. Explore your current reality in the five areas that create the best opportunities for an extraordinary life. Bring along an open mind!
Module 3: Look Forward
Once you have some general grounding, it’s time to dig deep. In this section, you’ll get a grip on today’s reality, one life category at a time, and then position it where you want to go next.
Module 4: Identify 3 Annual Initiatives
This section helps you hone in on the three initiatives—when given enough time and attention—that would give you the greatest return on the investment of time, energy, and focus by the end of the year.
Module 5: Set the scene
You’ll want to minimize all distractions here as you cast the vision for your ideal future and carve out a handful of memorable words to keep you motivated and focused in the days, weeks, and months to come.
Why Cohort Members love it
It provides a realistic snapshot of your present situation. If you take the time to work through each module honestly—you will walk away with a clear answer to the question “where did the time go?”
It gets you to think about the big picture. How do you want to be remembered? What things can be delegated in the future? What things would you like to devote more time to? This tool helps you figure that out because your answers are based on actual data from the previous year.
It makes you take a hard look at yourself. The RBLF gets you to recognize who you think you are vs. who you really are—and more importantly what steps you need to take to reconcile the two.
