The Power of Reflection

I love it when clients realise the power of reflection – creating new ideas and opportunities.

Reflection can take some practice, however given the time to do so it allows you to pause and look back on past experiences, make decisions, create new actions and change our direction.

I love a good quote! Peter Drucker, an Austrian born business educator and author, said “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action”.

Create the space and environment that moves you away from your work desk, at a time when you are at your best and your mind is most active. Spend 15-20 minutes each week with no computers, devices or interruptions creating a quiet space to realise your thoughts.
Often our thoughts and ideas come and go quickly so having a notebook to be able to capture these will allow you to refer back to them during your reflection time.
I often take time out first thing in the morning before anything else can take over my thoughts. I use a beautiful butterfly notebook (which I think is appropriate as I am often flitting in and out of thoughts!) a friend bought me to capture my feelings and new ideas. I also like to create reflection time when I am out and about whether it be a bench in the local park or on top of a mountain as the fresh air and nature can often spark new thoughts.
There are four types of questions you can consider when reflecting – awareness, analysis, alternatives, and actions. Here are some reflection questions that might help…
• What do you know about…?
• What do you know now after trying…?
• How could you find out about…?
• How are you going to put that in to place?
• How are you currently doing…? Why?
• What did you do that worked well?
• What would you do differently next time?
• When will you do this?
• What happened when you did…? Why?
• How do you feel about that?
• What supports were most helpful?
• What types of support will you need?
• What might make it work even better next time?

Ultimately, make time to ask yourself – What have I learnt about myself?

Reflection can help you jump off the “life treadmill” and consider new opportunities, new ways of thinking, make decisions and take action. Why not give it a go…..