The Power of Reflection

‘Ready, willing and able’, that’s what I told myself starting out on a new adventure this week. But the reality was, I was nervous and filled with self-doubt, it’s been a long time since I started with a new company. My thoughts were racing ‘Can I do this?’, ‘What if I get it wrong?’, ‘What if I say the wrong thing?’, ‘What if they don’t like how I do things?’

 These are all too familiar thoughts when we take the opportunity to do something new.  Trying new things takes courage and really pushes us to the edge of our comfort zone. So how do we shift our mindset to consider the fears and doubts as opportunities so we can take on that new challenge and be at our best?

 Being able to take the time to reflect on how you are feeling, what you are thinking and working through how to manage it are critical to being able to take the leap.  I call this the Power of Reflection.  Effective reflection supports your confidence and helps you build a game plan towards a successful future.  But in practical terms, what can you reflect on to help you move forward.  Here are my top tips.

 ·      Reflect on your achievements

A mentor once told me ‘no-one can ever take away what you’ve achieved, because you’ve already done it’.  Look over old performance reviews and reflect on your achievements and successes. Think about times in your career where you have felt really satisfied and proud, and those times when you have had that really bad day.  What worked and what didn’t work? Is there a trend in how you made things work? What did your behaviours and words look like when things didn’t go so well?  Both sides are important in helping you to decide what skills, attitude and behaviours you should take forward and what you should leave behind to set you up for success in your new role. Be honest in your reflection, this is key to ensuring you put your best self forward. 

 ·      Reflect on the risks and the opportunities you’ve already taken to get to where you are

Instead of thinking about everything that could go wrong, balance it with thinking about what could go right.  In planning for that new challenge, new role, new way of doing things, we often think about our risk plans and how we will mitigate the things that have the potential to go wrong.  Our ‘opportunity plan’ is a big piece in helping us to see how we can make things go right by using our strengths. In mapping out what can go right, our ‘mitigations’ get us to look at what actions we would take to achieve the best outcomes.  

 Think about what you’ve learned from your experiences, not only the skills and capabilities developed from tasks you’ve done, but what you’ve discovered about yourself.  Learning is about identifying both what your good at and what you like, as well as what you don’t like and where you need to build capability in the future.  When thinking about building capabilities remember to consider all options – Can I build the capability myself? Do I want to? How do I close the capability gap ie can I outsource it to someone else?

 ·      Reflect on your supporters

The reality is when we start new things we are not alone, there are lots of people cheering us on to do well.  Throughout our careers and in life we have built a supporter base through our family, friends and networks that are providing advice, lending a listening ear and giving us tough love talks when we need them. When starting a new role with new people, they are supporting you too.  They don’t want to see you fail, you have been selected for a reason to join their team.  

 Think about who and how you need to engage with your supporters when you start that new adventure.  Having a plan means you get genuine value from these interactions and give honest input to the relationship.  Ask them to give you the best and worst of feedback so that you can grow.

 ·      Reflect on the Why

Remember you took on the new opportunity for a reason. Ask yourself ‘What appealed to me’, ‘Why did I decide to take it’, ‘How does it align to the here and now, and to my future’.  Reflecting on your ‘why’ reinforces what brought you here, and why you said yes to this particular opportunity. It’s important to know this and remember your ‘why’ when you feel the challenges are big and your fear thoughts are taking the lead.

 The ‘Power of Reflection’, honest reflection, enables you to be brave and take the chance. It shows you that you can make a difference through how you think, it drives what you do and how you behave.  It will define your challenge versus your opportunity.  Every opportunity we take ‘is part of the rich tapestry of life’.