Do you ever take a step back and truly reflect on who you are and what drives your decisions? Developing a strong reflective practice can unlock your potential and change your life.

Productivity advice often focuses on systems, techniques, and tools designed for a non-descript, overly rational human being who always follows optimal behavior. 

These theoretical tools and techniques fail because of the human element. Beyond learning new tools and techniques, our personal effectiveness depends largely on understanding ourselves. 

What is Reflection?

Reflection is the deliberate practice of examining your experiences and actions to learn more about your behavior, thought processes, and decision-making skills. 

Self-reflection combines retrospection with self-evaluation to increase self-awareness and support continuous learning and improvement.

“The practice itself is all about learning, looking back on the day (without bias or regret) to contemplate your behavior and its consequences. It requires sitting with yourself, taking an honest moment to think about what transpired, what worked, what didn’t, what can be done, and what can’t. Reflection requires courage. It’s thoughtful and deliberate.”

HBR.org

The Benefits of Reflection

In a world obsessed with doing, reflection offers us the space for thinking and for processing the various inputs collected throughout our days.

Developing a regular reflective practice can help you identify areas for improvement, grow as an individual, and make better decisions in the future.

A reflective practice provides a way to explore and investigate why some things work well and why some don’t go as expected.

While a subjective practice, it allows you to take an observer role in your own life. Revisiting experiences and situations after they occur can create a level of separation that reveals new insights into our actions and emotions. 

“We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience.” 

John Dewey

Overall, reflection offers numerous benefits, including:

• gaining clarity on your thoughts and emotions
• increasing empathy for yourself and others
• identifying areas for personal growth and improvement
• increasing self-awareness and understanding of your values and beliefs
• improving decision-making skills
• reducing stress and anxiety by processing and releasing emotions
• freeing up some mental bandwidth by resolving or reducing recurring and nagging thoughts
• improving communication and relationships with others
• enhancing creativity and problem-solving abilities

How to Start A Self-Reflective Practice

If you have never practiced reflection or introspection intentionally, the process can make you feel vulnerable and uncomfortable. It can be an intimidating experience to look at ourselves honestly and question our beliefs and assumptions. 

The good news is that this is a personal activity that does not have to involve others (unless you so choose.) 

The Reflective Process

The preferred tool can vary from person to person, but the overall process is roughly the same. Here are the general steps:

1. Set some time aside for reflection. Block a time slot to review and reflect at the end of the week. Plan for a minimum of 30 minutes. Give yourself an hour if you can.
2. Honor your reflection time. When the time arrives, find a private and quiet space. Be sure to remove all distractions. Turn off your phone and all the notifications on your computer. Give yourself some uninterrupted time to listen to your thoughts.
3. Use guiding prompts to help you get started. These can be general or specific to the topic you want to reflect on. Prompts help direct your focus and facilitate a deeper exploration of your thoughts and feelings. (There is a list of general prompts later in this article.)
4. Don’t censor or edit as you express yourself. Let your thoughts flow freely as you process and answer the prompts. Remember that you don’t have to share the outputs with anyone else. What matters is that you express your thoughts and the emotions that arise.
5. Review your output without judgment. The goal of reflection is not to berate or criticize ourselves. It is to uncover aspects of our thinking and behavior that we were not already attuned to.

To reap the maximum benefits, you must deliberately build an ongoing practice around reflection. Doing a periodic review of your life is a great place to start.

Periodic Life Reviews

To reap the maximum benefits, you must build a practice around reflection. Doing a periodic review of your life is a great place to start.

A daily review can be helpful if you don’t turn it into a rigid practice that makes you rebel against it. A monthly review is not ideal, but it can still offer some good insights. A month is a long period, increasing the chances that some events might get overlooked or forgotten in the review. 

A weekly review is an excellent cadence to strive for. A week is long enough to measure some change yet short enough to tweak our overall trajectory effectively. Also, a weekly touchpoint keeps us connected with ourselves.

These periodic life reviews will be the foundation of your reflective practice. Follow the steps above to make them a deliberate part of your weekly routine.

Ad Hoc Reflection

Beyond your regular life review practice, self-reflection is a tool you can access anytime needed.

When you go through intense, unforeseen, or stressful events and emotions, it can be helpful to process them through self-reflection. When feeling stuck or without direction, reflection can help you unlock new pathways and reinvent yourself.

Again, make time to reflect in a quiet and private environment, and refrain from censoring or judging yourself as you express your thoughts and emotions.

Step back and observe what transpires from your output. Ask yourself more questions if you still need clarification.

Project Checkpoints

Incorporate review sessions into your personal projects to further enhance your reflective practice. These checkpoints will ensure that you learn as you go and pivot when necessary.

Whether you are pursuing fitness goals, learning Mandarin, or writing a book, identify a reasonable timeframe after which you can evaluate your progress. Decide when the next checkpoint will be and put it on your calendar.

Depending on the nature of the project, this could be every two weeks, monthly, or even quarterly. The key is to give yourself enough time to test a strategy and collect data points to evaluate its effectiveness.

Then, through the review process, you can determine whether you are still on the right path or need to adjust the course.

As with your weekly practice, schedule your review sessions in advance, honor them, and use prompts to guide you through the process.

If your projects involve accountability partners, consider including them in the review process.  

Common Reflection Methods

When choosing a reflection technique, consider your individual learning and processing styles, the desired outcome, and the type of experience you want to reflect on. 

Some popular methods include journaling, free writing, mind mapping, processing out loud, talking to someone else, and creative expression. 

Experiment with different approaches to find what works best for you.

Journaling

Journaling offers a structured and deliberate approach to reflection. It involves writing about specific topics or events in a structured manner, often with prompts or questions to guide your thoughts. 

Journaling can be beneficial if you are trying to work through a particular issue or achieve a specific goal. It allows for a more focused exploration of your thoughts and emotions.

The process of writing allows the mind to slow down. It helps organize thoughts, review experiences and behaviors, discover patterns, and connect ideas.

Free writing

Free writing allows for a more open-ended exploration of one’s thoughts and emotions. It involves writing continuously for a set time without worrying about grammar, spelling, or output quality. 

By allowing yourself to write spontaneously and without restrictions, you can access your subconscious mind and discover new insights you may not have otherwise found. 

In addition to helping with reflection and introspection, this can be a great way to unlock creativity, generate new ideas, and overcome writer’s block.

Mind mapping

Mind mapping is a visual tool used to organize and connect ideas in a non-linear way. It involves starting with a central idea and branching out to related ideas, creating a web-like structure.  

Visually organizing thoughts and ideas can help you identify connections and patterns in your thinking. It can also provide a structured approach to considering a topic or problem from multiple perspectives.

Beyond reflection, mind mapping also helps with brainstorming, problem-solving, and note-taking.

Processing out loud (alone)

Speaking out loud can allow you to process your thoughts and emotions, gain clarity, and solve problems. 

It’s also a private and convenient way to reflect. You can do it anytime and anywhere without needing anyone else’s input. 

If talking alone feels weird, consider recording yourself. The bonus is that you can review the recording later and process it even further. 

Conversational Reflection

Reflection can also happen in conversation, one-on-one with someone you trust, or in a group setting. 

Talking about your experiences can help you gain new insights, share knowledge, and build relationships. Talking with others can provide different perspectives and challenge your assumptions.

Creative Reflection

Reflection can take many creative forms, such as drawing, painting, or music. Engaging in creative activities can help you express your thoughts and feelings, tap into your imagination, and gain a new perspective on your experiences.

Sample Prompts to Get Started

Weekly Reflection Prompts

• What went well today/this week?
  • Why did it go well?
  • How can I repeat this positive experience in the future?
• What went poorly today/this week?
  • Why did it go poorly?
  • How can I change the outcome next time?
  • What did I learn from this?
• Is there something I keep meaning to do but never get around to it?
  • Is it still important to me? Do I still want to get it done?

(If yes) 

• Why do I keep delaying it?
• How can I make this easier to accomplish?

(If no, give yourself some closure and let this go.)

• What do I want to start doing?
  • How can I make it easier to start?
  • What is the smallest step I can take in this direction?
• What do I want to stop doing?
  • How can I make this harder to do?
  • What is the smallest step I can take toward eliminating this?
• Where do I feel stuck?
  • Is there a different way I could approach this area of my life?
  • Can I get help or support with this?

General Reflection Prompts

• What matters to me in this season of my life?
• What do I do well?
  • What comes easily to me?
• If I could not fail, what would I do?
• If I had all the money and time, what would I do?
• If I could restart everything today, what would I do differently?
• What would my ideal day/week look like?
  • How can I get closer to that?
• What areas of my life would I like to improve?
  • What small steps can I take toward that?

Project Review Prompts

• What have I accomplished during this period?
• Did I reach the milestones I planned?
• What has gone well so far?
• What were some unexpected benefits of working on this project?
• What challenges did I run into?
• What have I struggled with?
• What do I want to do differently moving forward?
• What do I want to keep doing?
• What do I need to stop doing?
• What else can I try?

Reflection is a self-development tool that enables you to examine your thoughts, actions, decisions, emotions, and experiences to better understand yourself and your life. 

A reflective practice creates a systematic and intentional approach to embedding this valuable tool into our routine. It offers a deliberate and ongoing process for gaining self-awareness and learning from our experiences.