As a person who isn’t Jewish working in the Jewish nonprofit sector, the beginning of Elul has me Googling things like A.) “What do Jews do in Elul?” B.) “What is cheshbon hanefesh?” and C.) “Can Methodists do soul accounting?”

(Answer key: A.) Jews do cheshbon hanefesh; B.) That’s “spiritual accounting,” i.e. soul-searching in preparation for the new year; and C.) Yes, spiritual accounting is a meaningful practice for all humans.)

At Leading Edge, an organization improving leadership, talent and culture in the Jewish nonprofit sector, I have the honor and privilege of working with leaders across North America. Many of these leaders are Jewish, some of them are not. Much of my role involves connecting core tenets of Jewish wisdom with meaningful leadership development and learning. Two years ago, I had never heard of Elul. Now it consumes my thoughts.

Taking time annually to pause, put pen to paper and calculate the “balance sheet” of one’s own life — I can think of no greater gift to oneself or others than that level of commitment to reflection and improvement. What a necessary act it is for leaders to pause and examine their work, line by line and habit by habit. With only our own past and present as benchmarks, we get to decide how we spend our future and what we plan to change as we enter 5785.

It is beautifully meaningful to consider our own actions as the starting point. Did we take on a new mindset or skill in 5784, and how might we articulate our profits and losses over the past year? What could contribute to our own development as leaders? In a world where comparison is a commodity, soul accounting requires us to look at our own actions in isolation instead of relating them to the actions of others. It doesn’t matter how our neighbor, colleague, partner or friend is showing up in the world. The balance sheet is ours alone.

Though my personal faith practice is not Jewish, I deeply understand the power of contemplation and accountability as a Methodist, mother, wife, daughter, manager and teammate. I owe it to myself, God, and those around me to show up better each year than the one before. Finding a time in the year to prioritize that level of accountability is hard. Why not now? Why not Elul?

Five leadership competencies guide our work at Leading Edge: leading self, leading team, leading community, leading change and leading results. Within each area, dozens of specific behaviors contribute to progress or stagnation. I’ve been thinking about these competencies a lot lately as I reflect on a recently-completed round of Leadership 360, our holistic feedback program for Jewish nonprofit leaders. While the program isn’t explicitly Elul-themed, the concept of probing our strengths and growth areas is absolutely Elul-relevant. As we enter this month of spiritual accounting, lessons from observing this program and speaking with participants are helping me learn how to make this fall’s cheshbon hanefesh as meaningful and actionable as possible.

Here are some of those lessons:

1. Change isn’t easy, but it is possible. Getting feedback — whether from ourselves or others — is incredibly helpful, but it won’t happen by magic. We have to set aside time and establish processes to make it happen. For individuals, that could mean setting aside time to journal and ask specific questions of friends, family and colleagues. For leaders, it could mean participating in a formal program, setting aside time to reflect or engaging in informal conversations.
2. Change is easier in community. There’s a reason the Jewish tradition puts this practice onto the calendar for everyone in the same month, and it’s the same reason we at Leading Edge put leaders into supportive conversation with peers while doing this work: Whether you’re in a leadership development program, talking with colleagues at work or joining a learning group or in your house of worship, it helps to be self-reflective with others engaged in the same process. When the people and systems around you are in a similar season of reflection and change, the friction and resistance to your personal evolution are greatly reduced.
3. Be transparent and ask for support. Don’t just look for passive alignment with your community — reach out. Share with those around you that you are engaging in deep reflection and preparing for change. Partner with a coach, rabbi or spiritual advisor, trusted mentor or colleague, to help you hold onto self-improvement and not shift into self-judgment.
4. Expect new discoveries. Sometimes soul accounting can reveal misalignment in various aspects of your life. Anticipate that and work to pursue alignment. Reflection is only as good as the action that follows.
5. Be gentle. Your soul is worth caring for. Reflection can reveal tenderness you didn’t know was there. You don’t have to (and you can’t) get to perfect. You can get to better, though, one step at a time.

These lessons don’t cover everything we need to be certified soul accountants. While financial accountants have their Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), there aren’t any Generally Accepted Accounting of the Soul Principles (GAASP), at least none that I know of. (Maybe there should be.) The important thing is that we put in the time and effort. 

Goethe is said to have written: “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” I’m glad the Jewish calendar gives us the gift of time devoted to the kinds of self-reflection that matter most for leadership.

Abby Crawford is the vice president of leadership programs at Leading Edge.