It’s that time of the year again where the self-reflection bug takes hold and we’re thrust into winds of faith and teshuva (repentance in hebrew). For me, this is the first of two deep reflection moments throughout the year. While I personally operate on the Western Calendar, the Jewish new year signifies a different checkpoint in the year. The high holy days are a chance to admonish my own failures, botched commitments and pledge to improve and reengage on what’s most important. Rosh Hashana for me is a chance to place my spiritual bets and begin the accountability tracker for the year ahead. The proceeding 10 days from here is my journey of deep self-reflection to try to uncover how my mind operated a year ago but also try to understand the impacts the past year has had on me today. We then seal up the vault on Yom Kippur (10 days hence Rosh Hashana) as all our pledges for the year ahead have been made and we’re ready to take action. To accompany that journey, I stumbled on a fascinating tool a few years ago that I still use today; one I love to share.
DoYou10Q is a website that a friend showed me a few years ago that opens once a year for 10 days (today is day 1) and asks you one question a day. You should take some time and answer these questions with purpose and care because you will not be able to go back and change them after the 10 days and furthermore, you’ll be reminded of your answer this time next year. These questions are deep and open ended - exploring significant events that shaped your year, or asking you to elaborate on challenges that made you feel stuck, etc. This exercise is one intended to catalyze conversations with yourself - the most important conversation you can have this time of year.
So as we enter Rosh Hashana - ‘the head of the year’ - I wish everyone a sweet new year and best of luck as you build your vault.