What is the Best Way to Develop a Reflective Practice?
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about what a reflective practice is… today I would like to dive in deeper into what developing and using a reflective practice could mean for YOU.
There are several ways to develop a reflective practice that can help you transform the areas of your life you wish to work on, such as achieving professional or personal goals. They range from simple to start with, to more complex and deeper – depending on the issues you wish to deal with as part of your reflective practice.
Whatever the areas you want to work on, the following steps will help you develop a successful reflective practice.
1. Start a Reflective Practice Journal
Get a small notebook you can carry with you easily to jot down your thoughts as they occur to you.
2. Reflect on one Part of Your Performance Each Day
Start simply with one thing you did well, or one thing you wish you could have done better. Write something like:
- What did I do? ________________ and perhaps
- What happened as a result? _________________
Be compassionately honest. Don’t be hypercritical and beat yourself up over what happened. Instead, think of yourself as a journalist reporting the facts and then trying to make sense of what happened.
3. Use the 5 W’s
- Who
- What
- Where
- When
- Why
…to make sure you cover all of the important aspects of the event or occurrence you are examining as part of your daily reflective practice. Professional journalists are taught to answer all of these questions, if possible, when reporting the news. They are also trained to try to get them all into the first paragraph for the sake of being brief. Your reflective practice does not have to take hours if you are focused.
4. Evaluate the Ending
In reference to question #3, did you achieve the outcome you were hoping for? Why or why not? This is where your reflective practice will really start to bear fruit. What could you have done differently, or what other options do you have if the situation ever crops up again?
Are there any gaps in your knowledge or abilities that the event has revealed through your reflective practice?
5. Set SMART Goals
If you have discovered any gaps or areas where you could use improvement, the next step in your reflective practice is to set goals. The acronym SMART is a useful one for effective goal setting, for a number of reasons.
SMART stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant/Realistic
- Timed
Most people fail to achieve their goals because they are not specific enough. “I want to get better at public speaking,” is a good goal, but what does “better” mean, and what sort of timeline will you use to track your progress?
A SMART version of this goal would be: “I want to improve my public speaking skills in order to offer better presentations at work. I will join Toastmasters and get my Competent Communication certificate by making the ten speeches required by the end of the year.”
This goal is specific, can be measured (ten speeches) and is realistic if you follow the Toastmasters’ program. It may or may not be attainable depending on the deadline set. If you are setting this goal in January, you should be able to attain it within your timetable. If you set it in November, you are much less likely to be able to achieve it.
6. Follow Through With Your Goals
Once you set your SMART goal, take action to follow through. Use your reflective practice to gauge your success and do even better as you progress. For example, evaluate each of the ten speeches you will be giving to get the certification, and learn from each one.
Now that you know how to develop a reflective practice, it is time to start – and above all, to follow through. Make it a daily habit and assess your work regularly, and see how rapidly you will be able to progress towards the goals you’ve set.
