We live in a fast-paced world where everyone is always hustling to reach heights or survive. In such a situation, we often forget to look at ourselves. No, I'm not talking about looking at our reflection. I'm talking about self-reflection.

What's that? Self-reflection refers to looking inwards and evaluating yourself. Ah, what a futile activity you say? While it may seem like a futile activity for some, it actually is a powerful technique that can help you be a better person and more successful.

Introspection or self-reflection is not easy as we lead fast and crazy lives with little time to slow down. However, setting aside a small part of your day for self-reflection can bring about a huge change in your life. Yes, you'll have to make it a daily habit to enjoy its full benefits.

Still not convinced that self-reflection is necessary? No problem. Allow me to present five reasons why self-reflection is important and why it should be made a daily habit.

Here are 5 Reasons Why Self-Reflection is Important

1. Helps You Notice Negative Patterns in Your Life

Do you keep going back to your toxic ex? Or do you keep prioritising others' well-being and happiness instead of yours? Self-reflection helps you identify such negative patterns in your life. What will that do? Identifying your problem is the first step towards solving it. You will be able to consider various approaches to deal with the negative patterns in your life only if you identify them.

2. Better Decisions

Understanding yourself will help you make better decisions that are rewarding as well as brings you inner peace. Sometimes we tend to make hasty decisions that may fulfil our needs for the moment but leave us empty and rob our peace in the long run. It's truly hard to understand what is best for us without delving deep into ourselves. When we get an idea of who we are and what we truly want in our lives we'll be able to make better decisions.

3. Questions Your Assumptions

All of us have certain preconceived notions and assumptions which are often based on things we've experienced or learned. However, not all of these assumptions are true. For example, you might believe that only hard work will produce desired results, But sometimes we need to work smart instead of working hard.

What role does self-reflection play here? It makes us question our assumptions when something doesn't occur according to our beliefs or assumptions.

4. Prevents Worrying About Things That are Out of Your Control

Life is unpredictable and no matter how hard we try we won't be able to control every aspect of our life. However, that doesn't stop us from worrying, right? Even though we know that not everything is in our control, we just can't seem to stop worrying.

Self-reflection helps you detach yourself from things that you can't control and direct your energy towards those aspects that you can control and improve yourself on.

5. Helps You Face Your Fears

You might be someone who loves a good challenge and is the first one to jump up to face a challenge. If not, you might aspire to be such a person. But we humans are scared of certain things no matter how much of a daredevil we are.

You might fear failure, rejection, or something else. Self-introspection helps you to recognize your fears, admit them and gradually learn how to manage and face these fears.

Conclusion

You might've understood how essential self-reflection is. It helps us become self-aware. It makes us identify where we can improve and as a result, help us become better a version of ourselves. What happens if you don't introspect? Some of the effects of the lack of introspection are as follows:

• a lack of optimism for the future

• repetition of the same mistakes

• failing to look for chances to improve

• high levels of stress

I know how busy your life is but try sparing a few minutes for introspection every day and you'll notice a huge difference in yourself eventually.