Paul Catchlove

When we practice reflection as a habit, we gain even more meaningful insight because we see patterns that reflection on standalone events doesn't provide.

I truly think reflection can help everyone, people in every industry, at every stage of one's career and in every point in one's life.

Let me share with you an example that I think most people can connect with.

Most of us have meetings.

I was due for a daily catch-up with a colleague.

He had just led a client meeting for the first time.

It was to give a progress update on the work stream that he was responsible for in this project.

He said to me that the meeting had gone terribly.

He didn't get through the actions taken.

He wasn't able to discuss the obstacles faced or the decisions required.

He didn't get to the next steps or the responsible persons.

He felt angst, uneasy, upset.

He was concerned about what the client had thought of him and the meeting, but more importantly, what the client felt about the work that was going on in the work stream.

It would have been so easy for him to have just pushed past this, to try and suppress the emotions, but that would have missed a massive opportunity.

We took a few moments to think and objectively reflect over what took place, and then to put in place some commitments as to what and how he could do things differently next time.

He decided that in future, he would start each meeting with an agenda alignment to make sure there was clarity on what needed to be achieved.

and then he'd resolve to make sure that he would take greater control over the meeting so that if topics came up beyond the scope of the agenda, that he'd note that a separate discussion should be had.

Reflection helps to improve performance.

Reflection helps to make better decisions.

Imagine for a moment you've been in your current role for five years.