“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” ― Søren Kierkegaard

Each month, I set aside a chunk of time to reflect on the previous month: memorable moments, lessons I learned, how I spent my time, how I’m different, who/what I’m grateful for, improvements for next month, and goals to work toward. I want to be more intentional in my personal development this year, and posting each month serves as a way to help keep me accountable. If you have any big lessons you learned this past month, feel free to share them in the comments!

Here are three big lessons I learned this past month:

• What you put into your body matters. In a two week “experiment”, my coworker and I compared how what we ate for lunch affected our energy levels and productivity. One week we ate fast food, and another we ate super healthy lunches — and we definitely noticed a huge difference.
• “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” The last month, my personal task management system and morning routines have kind been of tossed to the wayside. And I’ve definitely been paying for it with more stress and less peace of mind.
• Listen to others’ advice, especially when they are older and wiser. Have a student’s mindset and an eagerness to learn from others, because you never know what kind of great wisdom you’ll can glean (and remember that listening to advice is different than having to act on it!).