I’m a very reflective person, I love to spend time thinking about how things have gone and how they could be different. But not everyone thinks this way, and it can be hard to make time for reflection. It can feel more appealing to launch into activity, to push forward, to move onto the next thing rather than to spend time looking back and contemplating. But making time to reflect can be a powerful way to learn, grow and ensure you’re moving forward with direction. Here is how I use reflection in my work and personal life.
Reflection in my work as a researcher
Feedback surveys
At the end of every research study we send a survey to participants asking them to feedback on their experience of taking part. What did they like about participating? What didn’t they like about participating? What would have made the experience better? In effect, you're researching your research study. The first time I sent out one of these surveys, I felt super vulnerable and scared about receiving negative feedback related to me and my work. But doing this has improved my work as a researcher hugely. It’s ensured I’m constantly iterating and thinking of ways to improve the participant experience.
Research Retros
A research retro (or retrospective) is a workshop you can run after research findings have been debriefed. Invite anyone who was involved in the set-up and running of the study as well as stakeholders who are using the insight from the study to inform their work. Spend an hour together discussing what worked well about the research study and what could be better next time. Think about this from all angles of the study: planning, live study, analysis and reporting. Make sure any feedback that is specific to one person is handled in a separate forum (e.g. 1:1 conversation or feeding back to their manager). Miro has loads of templates you can use for retrospectives with fun/bizarre themes like Halloween, festival and sailboat! This is a great way to capture learnings on the research process and to explore whether the work you are doing is bringing value to teams.
Quarterly reviews
As a research team, we get together every quarter and speak about what happened in the last three months, what went well, what could have been better, and what we want out of the next three months. It’s great to do this activity in person as the conversation flows more easily. Navigating difficult conversations on virtual calls can feel stunted or awkward. It’s a nice way to give everyone a chance to get stuff off their chest and contribute to the direction of the team. It’s also fun to combine it with a social.
Reflection in my personal life
Journals
Journaling is something that I took a while to come around to. It felt like something for influencers who had time to sit in cafes and do fancy calligraphy. I don’t know why, but it made me cringe and the fact that everyone everywhere was telling me how important journalling was made me want to do it less 😈. But I’ve found a simple format that works for me, and the more I do it, the more I love it.
I use Notion, an online organisational workspace that allows you to make lists, spreadsheets and documents. I love it because it is well optimised for both phone and desktop and means I can easily access it anywhere. I often use it in bed, or at the start of my working day on my laptop. I have a simple template that is split between morning and evening
Morning:
What’s on today?
How can I make today great?
Evening:
What was hard today?
What was great today?
What do I want from tomorrow?
I don’t fill it out every day. It’s not part of a “morning ritual”. I just try to fit it in whenever I can. I’ve almost trained my thumb to reach for the Notion app rather than Instagram when I’m tempted by some time doom-scrolling. Although it’s not consistent, whenever I do it, I always feel much better for it. I love thinking ahead of time about what would make the day great for me. That way, I can add in interventions before the stress of the day takes over.
Sometimes, I do a monthly version or a seasonal reflective journal. I also find it fascinating to read old journal entries to get a feel for where I was at then as compared to where I am now.
Reflection is a really valuable tool that allows you to learn from the past and move into the future with more direction. Reflection is simple and often takes the form of these 3 questions, what went well, what didn’t go well, and what could be better. Taking the short time to answer these questions in areas of your work and life could make a big difference. How could you find time for more reflection?
I haven’t heard of notion before; going to check it out.
Reflection is so important, but also hard to find the time for. Thank you for reminding me to do more of it! It’s especially important in the early stages of my business, so I think I will focus on that over the next couple of days.