I am on the drive home. It is a time of reflection. Yeah, Deep Thoughts while waiting at the Red Light. I question myself. I often review or evaluate my day. Did I show up my best? Did I give my best? What could I have done different? What questions could I have asked that I did not? What did I do well? Who really had a light bulb moment? How as I distracted? What should I keep doing? What should I change?

My Braincode automatically reflects on the drive home. I guess other people do not. What is that like? I often wonder how people refrain from deep thinking since it is so innate to me. Sometimes, I admit, I wish my brain would click 'off'. But that does not happen on the drive home.

Making sure I did my job on the drive home

On the drive home, I always want to make sure I did my job well. I want to make sure I’m learning from the day. I always evaluate to keep walking what I talk -- maintaining a growth mindset, personal responsibility towards excellence, and staying resilient!

In my High Performance Coaching training, we are taught and challenged to review every session we conduct with a client. As a Christian, we are taught to take a moral inventory of our lives and continue the process of transformation away from sin and towards what is good, right, and pure. As a mom, I would ask my kid’s ‘what can I do better as a mom?’ every year on our ‘special day*’?

Defining a Special Day

*Quick note -- Every year as my kids grew up, I would take them out of school for a day for a special day. We would go to breakfast, talk about their goals, review the goals from the previous year and set up new ones. I would have them evaluate me as a mom and listen to their feedback for me. Then we would just have a fun day together! These special days are some of my most precious memories! And, I often think about those days on the drive home wishing they were young again and we can have more days together.

Evaluation looks at failure and success

Reflection and evaluation do not always feel good. When I screw up, mess up, or say something I should not have, I do NOT want to examine that. But, come on, it is necessary. And, by the same token, when things go well, it is not normal to stop and consider what leads to success. Yet, this is vital information. I need to keep doing those things. Identifying what shift in beliefs and behavior are often questions I ask my athletes when winning or achieving a goal takes place. Evaluation involves looking at both.

Let us not be afraid to look at ourselves. Use the drive home to accomplish such reflection.