Why should I have a Life Review?

Dernière mise à jour de l'article le 18 December 2024

Bienvenue sur ce blog, conçu pour vous aider à reprendre le contrôle et redevenir l’architecte de votre vie ! Envie de faire le point sur votre situation actuelle ? Téléchargez dès maintenant le guide “10 Questions à se poser pour une vie équilibrée & sereine” pour démarrer votre changement de vie 🙂.

Are you feeling a little lost and need to give your life a new meaning? A life review can help you take stock, make informed decisions and (re)define ambitious but realistic goals.

Key points to remember:

• A life review allows you to take stock of yourself, your priorities and your goals.
• This is an important step in (re)defining yourself and making informed decisions.
• The life review helps you to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Looking back to move forward: The importance of a life review before making a change

Before making any changes in your life, it’s important to know where you’ve come from and what you’ve already achieved, which is one of the main objectives of the 360° life review.

However, as soon as the sirens of change sound, the only thing that comes to mind is « I want to change NOW ».

Strangely enough… we no longer want to look at our past. We no longer want to look to the past. A past that can bring back bad memories, even painful ones.

Paradoxically, it is thanks to this past that we are where we are today.

So shouldn’t we thank him?

A 360° life review is not just about looking at the negative aspects of your past and moping around.

No.

It’s looking at your past from a different angle, a different perspective and, above all, with a very specific goal in mind!

So yes, I’m sick and tired of life reviews and the like, but … they’re essential if we’re to develop a better understanding of ourselves… and avoid repeating the same patterns and finding ourselves in the same situation a few years down the line.

It would be a shame to end up in the same situation we don’t want today.

How a life review can help you

So I’d like to broaden your preconceptions about life reviews.

My intention is to convince you to go out and buy a nice little notebook and start your 360° life review today!

When I talk about a life review, I’m talking about a 360° life review, in other words, taking stock of every area of your life:

Money & Finances – Health & Well-being – Business & Career – Physical Environment – Spirituality – Contribution to Society – Leisure & Fun – Personal Development – Love & Couple – Family & Friends.

These areas are generally illustrated in a personal development tool called The Wheel of Life.

All these areas are interconnected and contribute to a balanced life.

Each person defines their own desired level of satisfaction in each of these areas. However, we all need these 10 areas to feel fulfilled and serene in our lives.

The important thing to remember is that everyone defines these 10 areas of life. There is no universal definition.

The only effective and valid definition is the one you want to use in this life review. After all, you’re the person best placed to know what Family & Friends means to you.

The aim of a life review is first and foremost to take time for yourself to reflect and step back.

To think about what?

Where we are today in our lives.

Take a step back from your personal, professional, family and social situation.

To identify what we are proud of in our life so far.

Identifying what we would like to see changed in a clean future.

To become aware of what we really want for our lives.

To become aware of who we are.

If you tend to think :

“I feel lost… “

“I feel lost… “

“I don’t really know what I want to do any more…”

« I don’t know where I’m going with this job… »

« I don’t know where I am in my life anymore… »

I can only encourage you to take stock of your life.

Taking this time to find yourself and reconnect.

Take this time to look back at how far you’ve come.

Take this time to reflect on these 10 areas of life and complete the Wheel of Life.

Take this time for yourself and reflect on where you are, taking stock and sorting out what you want to keep and what you don’t want to relive in the near future.

And why formalise this review? What’s the point?

Formalising this life review is above all an excuse to really sit back and reflect. The medium encourages us to reflect on our level of satisfaction in these different areas of life and what we want to achieve in the coming months.

After all, we love diagrams and models, they give us the impression of having something « » finalised, finished, accomplished.

Joking aside, using the Wheel of Life also makes it fairly easy to visualise the areas that are suffering and on which we need to focus our attention. Once completed, this tool will enable you to dig a little deeper into this personal reflection, in particular by trying to understand why this rating is given, what you remember about it and what you would like to do to improve the rating.

If you’re looking for a tool to help you carry out this famous 360° life review, don’t hesitate to download this free Wheel of Life template : Wheel of life template.

What is really stopping us from taking stock of our lives?

Generally, what I hear when I suggest to people that they do this life review before embarking on a change is :

1/ « I don’t have time ». But that’s not true. When we say that, it’s because activity / action / … is not a priority in our lives today.

2/ « There’s no point ». If we think it’s pointless, it means it’s not that important for us. To know where we are in our lives.

3/ « It’s not effective ». Yes, that’s true. If we don’t use the results of the assessment after we’ve done it, or if there’s no action plan defined afterwards, well, it’s not effective and we’ve wasted our time doing the assessment.

In reality, behind these phrases lies one and the same reason.

We’re scared.

We are afraid to face reality.

We’re afraid of what we might discover.

We’re afraid of having to make decisions that could change our lives.

We’re simply afraid to take stock of our lives.

Because we associate a life review with the idea that there is a problem in our lives.

But that’s not the real aim of this review.

If we took the time to do a life review… let’s say at least twice a year… whatever our situation… well, it would be more of an idea to see where we are and to readjust the road we’re on.

That way we can be grateful for all the great times we’ve had and think about adjusting our actions to avoid reliving experiences that are a little less pleasant.

By the way, do you know the 5 biggest regrets in life?

This is a study carried out by an Australian nurse on her patients at the end of life (her name isBronnie Ware).

The 5 regrets are :

1. Not having had the courage to live my life the way I wanted to and not the way it was expected of me.
2. Spending too much time at work
3. Not having had the courage to express my feelings
4. Losing sight of my friends
5. Not allowing myself to be happier
   

These 5 regrets are written in order of importance.

« Not having had the courage to live my life the way I wanted to and not the way I was expected to ».

So yes, it can be scary to do a life review.

Yes, you won’t necessarily be happy with the results, but that’s not the point.

I suggest that you see this review as a milestone at which you can readjust your path and your strategy.

I suggest that you see this assessment as an indicator that you’re on the right road. The road you’ve decided for yourself… so that you don’t have any regrets once you’ve reached the end of it.

Have you changed your mind about life reviews?

A life review is like a new milestone.

A new starting point to readjust our route.

A new starting point for adaptation, change and even transformation.

Build on these positive experiences and work to create new ones in the future.

Identify negative experiences and understand how they were negative for us and avoid repeating them in the future.

Understanding what’s really important to us today, thanks to all the experiences we’ve had so far.

Taking time for yourself.

To appreciate the present moment.

What’s on your mind? When are you going to do your life review?

FAQ : Life review