“We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.”
– Quote attributed to John Dewey
There are many ways to reflect and journal, supported by a plethora of tools. There are also many philosophies for reflecting and journaling. Over the next few posts, I will share how I teach and practice reflection and journaling, why it is important and how to use it for personal and organisational development.
Essentially, why and how I reflect and journal adheres to the three steps of recording, reflecting and responding.
RECORD
- Human beings have terrible memories. We are too selective in what we choose to remember and not careful enough to remember the things we ought to recall. Why is this so?
- Human memory does not record events as they happen. It selectively records memorable events. We are more likely to record and recall moments rather than an autobiographic playback.
- Memorability is a function of many things. Sometimes, we are too lazy to record. Or we don’t know what to look out for. At other times, we fail to recognise the significance of events that ought to matter.
- Emotions play a huge role in memorability, especially negative emotions. If we allow this to rule how we record, then we are like flawed machines admitting only skewed data.
- Because we need to learn better from experience, we need to train ourselves to be more deliberate in recording moments that matter.
- Systematic recording is crucial in order to have good data to reflect on.
REFLECT
- Reflection is not rumination.
- To ruminate is to dwell on the past, to attribute events to illogical causes and unsupported beliefs, or to extrapolate the significance of the event to unlikely outcomes.
- For example, if my car tyres all puncture within a span of 1 week, rumination may lead me to think that I could have died, and to continually dwell on that possibility. Rumination can also lead me to attribute the tire punctures as a sign that I should just stay at home, because each time I go out, I notice a puncture.
- To reflect is to analyse for logical causes, to update one’s operating assumptions, to discover new insights into things and people so that the way we view and interact with the world is relevant and powerful.
- For example, if I reflect on the close proximity between my tyre punctures, I can infer that I should review my pre-emptive maintenance plan for my tyres, or try to recall where I’ve driven that may be hazardous.
- Reflection treats emotions as another point of data to consider while rumination is ruled by emotions.
RESPOND
- When one has useful and reliable data to reflect on, and has reflected with care, the response often seems obvious. I record well and reflect well in order to get to this point of responding better to people and situations.
- Nonetheless, care must be taken in crafting one’s response to be appropriate to the situation at hand.
- For me, the first response typically occurs as a role-play within my head.
- Sometimes, I follow-through with a written response to the person or to myself.
- Thereafter, if appropriate, only then do I act.
- This way, I prevent myself from being a reactive leader and try to be more of a reflective leader.
PARALYSIS BY OVER-ANALYSIS OR A MATTER OF PRACTICE?
One can argue that following these steps may cause one to become paralysed by over-analysis. Alternatively, there are situations in which such a deliberate practice is inappropriate. For example, when there is a fire in the room and one must evacuate immediately.
I offer that with practice, these steps more smoothly and quickly flow into each other. It is ultimately a better way to make decisions in the long run. Especially in emergencies, when one needs to make good decisions in a very short time with limited information, it is crucial that one takes in all the necessary information, reflects quickly and precisely in order to make the best decisions. All that takes practice. With daily practice in these 3 steps, we will become more ready when a crisis occurs.
