“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
Peter F. Drucker
Reflection is a personal and a professional development activity. With all the "action" in our personal and professional lives,effective and meaningful reflection must be done with conscious effort. Powerful and productive change does not occur without deliberate reflection. Consider the following:
INFORMATION + ACTION = KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge is the result of information and action. Yet, knowledge of actions taken is still not wisdom. It is in the reflective process that we are able to see if the knowledge used and action taken have produced something of value and worth. So,
KNOWLEDGE + EXPERIENCE + REFLECTION = WISDOM
Wisdom born of reflection allows us to grow, develop, change, inspire, produce, attract, influence, contribute,…teach. I believe that if we can teach ourselves and our students to make reflection an integral part of living and learning, we have really done something that makes knowledge deep and lasting. Here are some ways to get the reflective conversations going:
- If I were to do it over again…
- I now know…
- Now that I am done, I understand…
- I want my actions to make a difference, so…
- I now realize that..
- I am really proud of…
- Next time, I could…
- I’ve learned that…
- I’ve always wondered…
So as the hustle and bustle of your week begins, make sure to set aside time for reflection and know that when you do, it is worth every second!
Photo on Flickr by Electron Cloud