How To Create Greater Success Through Reflection

 

How To Create Greater Success Through Reflection

If I could provide you with a tool or resource that would enhance your life, improve your outcomes, increase your happiness, and help you become better at anything you desired. And if I could guarantee you that this tool would be free, all you would need to use it is yourself, and it could be used whenever you want.

Would you be curious?

You'd, I'll bet on it.

At the risk of sounding like a used car salesman or carnival barker, what I just said isn't hype; there is such a tool. Additionally, you already own it.

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Reflection is the tool

You probably know people who have worked at the same job for ten years and have gotten better and better at it. You also probably know people who have worked at the same job for ten years, but they only seem to have one year's worth of experience. In other words, they never really took the time to evaluate their efforts and outcomes, which is why nothing seems to improve. They don't appear to be learning from their mistakes.

Which of these individuals would you employ? Who among these individuals would you want on your team?

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Though I'm too busy

I frequently hear that people are too busy to reflect, which is the main excuse. They spend too much time switching between tasks, projects, and events. When they are finished telling me about this challenge, they ask, "When would I have time to reflect?"

Compared to the lives of our grandparents, our lives are very different. People would gather around a table or sit on the front porch in the evenings 75 or 100 years ago to chat about their days while sipping iced tea. They were unwinding and, though not in a very organized manner, they were thinking back on their day.

We all understand the value of this kind of reflection because we regularly ask our kids how their days were when they get home from school.

We claim that our lack of porch time is the cause of our inability to reflect because we are too busy. Even though there is nothing wrong with television, we somehow manage to find the time to watch it. However, watching television does not give us the time, space, or opportunity to reflect.

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Other Motives

Time is usually our justification, but it's not the only one. We also don't think about it because 

We don't give it any thought. 

We are unaware of its significance. 

It has no value to us. 

We don't believe we are capable of doing it.

I hope reading this aids you in moving past the initial objections. Let me now address the final one, which is the skill issue.

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Examples

We all understand how to pause, think, etc.

playing cards while seated around a table with friends. People are conversing in-between hands about what they might have, should have, or could have done; all of this conversation is just reflection. Even though some players prefer not to "overanalyze it," talking about what just happened during that time will help us become better card players in the future.

A different generation might define reflection as the brief period of time between two rounds in a video game during which players quickly consider what went wrong and how to avoid it in the future.

While observing the trajectory of their shots, golfers quickly assess their swing, considering what went well and what they might change.

As we leave a meeting or presentation and move on to the next item on our calendar, we do the same thing at work.

We are aware of how to do it and even occasionally use it, but how can we do so more frequently and more successfully?

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Tips for Enhancing Your Reflection

Schedule it. 

Taking time to reflect is important. 

No matter how hectic our schedules are, we all have time. 

In the shower, consider. 

Think about your motivation to work (turn off your radio or your iPod and think). 

Spend some time thinking before you go to sleep. 

As your family and you eat, consider something. 

Offset the television. 

We simply need to carve out the time.

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Ask questions

Thinking is what reflection is all about, and questions train our minds to think. Use his list of questions as your "starter set" of reflective questions to get you thinking about what happened and what you can learn.

The solution? Why? 

What was ineffective? Why? 

What do you think of this situation? 

How can I apply this knowledge? 

How does this encounter compare to other circumstances I've encountered? 

What can I take away from that experience? 

What would I change if I could, knowing what I know now?

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Expand your thinking

Don't just focus on how you would carry out this exact same task or react to this exact same circumstance in the future. We live too complicated a life for that! Consider how you can apply what you learned from this experience to other similar or perhaps even unrelated circumstances. Look for underlying principles, trends, patterns, and generalizations. Our time spent reflecting becomes infinitely more beneficial to our lives when we think more broadly.

Some of my reflection on reflection can be found here. As we continue to practice this skill, we will become more adept at it, and our outcomes will start to significantly improve. Schedule the time. Pose the queries. Apply what you've learned without hesitation. By doing this, you will turn your life experiences into your most valuable source of knowledge and your best opportunity for personal success.