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Before you leap into action and start to change everything in your life, I suggest taking some time out to reflect on how your life is today, and how you imagined it would be. Some of it will be really on track, I am sure, but there are bound to be parts that are just not working for you.

In the normal state of craziness that most of us seem to live our lives in, there is little time to simply sit and reflect—but I think reflection is an incredibly powerful tool. To reflect on the journey that has got you to this point in your life means remembering the good and the bad, the dreams and the desires. To reflect on this means to take stock of where you are today, and this can really drive the change process because you will be motivated by remembering how you wanted your life to be.

There is a reason that meditation has become so popular in modern Western culture—remembering, of course, that it has been popular in some other cultures for thousands of years. (Perhaps we weren’t that quick off the mark.) Quiet reflection is a form of meditation and it can do wonderful things for us if we take the time and create the right environment to let it happen.

So while I am recommending that you take time to reflect on where you are today, I also strongly recommend building time into your life for reflection every day—maybe at the end of the day, or maybe in the morning when you get up. It’s up to you, but the things to think about are: How was the day you just experienced? What went well, and what didn’t? What could you have done better? What are you proud of ?

The funny thing about reflection is that you have to train your mind to do it; you need to ask the questions. In the early stages, think of four or five questions and ask them of yourself at your chosen daily reflection session. After a while, they will form in your mind automatically. It will be very calming and you will be better able to break your bad habits if you become aware of them on a daily basis.