In the previous blog post, we looked at the importance of reflection. Here we look at how to reflect. Reflecting is basically asking questions and seeking possible answers about something you experienced. The reflective process can be illustrated as a cycle. Cycles reflect the idea of continued improvement where experiences lead to reflection and improvement, which in turn lead to new actions, experiences, and reflection, and so on. The figure above shows an illustration of a reflective cycle.
The cycle starts with the Description of the experience we are going to reflect on. We ask, what happened? This could be something that happened to us, for example, travelling overseas. It could be a negative experience such as a mistake or a failure. It could also be something that we experience by reading, such as a book, or watching, for example a movie or a lecture. We want to transform the experience into a learning opportunity.
Once the experience is defined, we look at our own reaction.
- How did I feel? Did I feel happy, sad, stressed, terrified, angry, confused, surprised?
- What did I think? What did I do?
- Were the experience/outcome/consequences good or bad?
- What worked? What didn’t work?
In the next stage is where most of the learning happens by looking at change.
- What could I have felt, thought, or done differently? What could be improved?
- What have I learned? How have I changed?
- What am I going to do differently next time?
This series of questions lead to action where we apply or try out what we have learned. This action will lead to new experiences, and the cycle starts again.
In the next blog post we look at creating a learning portfolio and some of the reasons we don’t practice reflection as often as we should.
Make an impact,
Pablo