How to develop reflection?
The development of reflection is the development of the skill of analysis and introspection. It is not so easy to study reflection. It can even mislead or harm if you overdo it. Therefore, below I will give recommendations that will allow you to develop reflection, but without immersion in psychological backstage.
1. Train yourself to analyze your actions.
If you have never done this regularly, then fill in a slot in the calendar right now. I would start with a reflection every two weeks. At least just to list what happened. Not hastily, not carelessly, but consciously sit down and mentally go back to what happened in two weeks. Carefully analyze what you are satisfied with and dissatisfied with.
2. Ask yourself open-ended questions.
When you ask yourself questions where you cannot answer “yes” or “no”, then the brain needs to work to answer them. This way it is faster to move to the root causes of everything. Keep track of your thoughts and answers. Over time, you will understand which questions work better and will be able to reflect faster.
3. Look at yourself from the outside.
Learn to look at yourself through the eyes of others. Abstract and look at yourself as a stranger. For example, name this person Polycarpus. Analyze how Polycarpus looks from the outside, what he does and thinks. When I see an unexpected reaction from people, then, of course, I immediately think that they did not understand me. But if you look at yourself from the outside, then everything can look very logical.
For example, you didn’t mean anything bad, but your facial expressions, context, or past experience with a person gave your actions or words a negative color. You don’t see yourself from the outside and don’t notice anything suspicious. It happens that you understand everything, but you don’t want to notice. Sometimes it is very painful to admit your emotions or being wrong. It’s like hearing your voice on an audio recording for the first time. This exercise is sobering, helps to regulate actions and develop. The main thing is to accept that not everything is smooth, and this is normal.
4. Communicate with different people.
If a person is adequate, but he has other beliefs and views, it does not mean that he is stupid or bad. With the help of techniques from this list, try to understand other people. Not to accept their point of view for support, but to find the root causes of their behavior. Perhaps the way of their judgments is to draw your attention to previously unobvious things. Test your ideas and solutions on other people to find blind spots. When you are criticized, you don’t need to be offended, find out why they think so about you and what facts they support.
5. Analyze the mistakes of others.
Others are always easier to analyze, since you always look at them from the outside. Often people make mistakes and just move on, but you can consider their experience as an example. You can analyze their path and try to draw conclusions, or you can talk to them to find out how not to do it. Do you want to increase the probability of success? Talk to those who have failed. You know perfectly well that smart people learn from the mistakes of others.
6. Be honest with yourself.
It is very difficult to implement, but you need to make sure that this is really the case. Otherwise, there is no point in reflection. Be prepared to repeatedly check your answers for authenticity. Get ready for unpleasant answers. Not everyone can admit that they shouted at their soulmate because of stress at work. Not everyone accepts that nothing is happening because that’s what they want.
Not everyone can admit that they made a mistake and wasted their time. Ignoring only makes the situation worse. The value lies precisely in honest answers without embellishment. Once I could not admit to myself that my five years of study at the university did not give me anything in terms of career and material benefits. I couldn’t accept the fact that I, so fashionable and smart, had to relearn in order to do what I like. When I confessed to myself, I realized what options there were to fix the situation. Since then, honesty to myself is always with me and helps me a lot.
7. Do not engage in self-examination.
Asking yourself questions about failures can be very dangerous. It’s easy to slip into thinking that you’re not like that, you’re unlucky, that’s fate, and Rocky was right when he said that the world is not so sunny and friendly. Therefore, for the time of reflection, try to be a soulless robot without emotions and value judgments. Treat reflection as a quality control. When I worked at a factory in Donetsk, we poured cans of glucose. When they were defective, special limiters threw the cans on the floor. No one shouted through a megaphone that I was crooked-armed. It was just a signal that you need to adjust the settings of the machine. Do the same. We conducted a retrospective, analyzed, drew conclusions, rebuilt and moved on. If it doesn’t work out, and thoughts go into a negative direction, then try to do reflection in a group or with close people who will support.
All of the above has helped me to better analyze myself and my experience. Previously, we were not taught anywhere to do reflection and raise awareness, and now there is no time for this either. Don’t wait to study reflection. Immediately learn by practice. Start using any retrospective approach and make it regular.
Outcome
Reflection is a mandatory tool for regular improvements, it is an accelerator for the accumulation of experience. It helps to get the most out of the completed stage and optimize the next stage. It is not necessary to go into the study of your personality and emotions. You can use working tools, keeping a diary or blog, while simultaneously developing the skill of reflection. Despite the purpose of reflection to get to the truth, try not to abuse the questions “Why?”. When it comes to emotions, the question is “Why?” leads to superficial and obvious answers.
When searching for root causes in business processes, there are facts, so it is easier for critical thinking to work. Emotions are more difficult, because the brain will always explain to us that this is the right answer, as it is very convenient. Try to use open-ended questions that start with the word “What”. For example, “What happened?”, “What do I feel?” or “What can I do to change the situation?”. Such questions are aimed at action, not introspection. If you have never done reflection, then stop and deal with it. Of course, you don’t have time, but it’s better to pause and suffer a little pain than to endure it constantly, wasting resources. I have seen many times when people and teams “put out fires”.
After reflection, they qualitatively changed the process or decision, which greatly improved the situation. Look for balance and don’t let reflection turn into eternal introspection or anxiety. Limit the reflection process in time, focus on solutions and visualize the process. Treat reflection as a tool that you control. With each new experience and knowledge, your reflection will develop, the process will become more efficient and take less time. The further you go, the better your growth will be.
