The importance of reflection

Generally, successful businessowners and leaders are unbelievably and unrelentingly busy. Often, they think their success is predicated on how much stuff they get done.

To others their pace of life feels dizzyingly fast.

Of course, one of the challenges with such a lifestyle is that we don’t have or allow the time to reflect on our situation. Someone once said that reflection turns experience into insight, and it is important that we dedicate enough time to reflection so that we can learn.

This is the first of three such exercises that I am posting between Christmas and New Year. I encourage you to do the exercises. The way Christmas has fallen we should all be able to find at least some time to develop unique learnings.

So here you go.

I want you to mentally review the last year and think about any occasions where you seemed to lose yourself in a task, that was challenging and yet enjoyable.

Where the task, though certainly stretching, seemed to give you energy rather than drain you of energy. Typically, you may well have felt as though you lost track of time. Time often seemed to stand still.

Can you recall any such events? Can you recall several events? Are they related? Are there common factors?

Make some notes.

Why am I asking?

I am describing a situation Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi labelled ‘flow’ – a state closely related to peak performance which tends to occur when we are at the edge of our comfort zones, being stretched, but not too far.

If you can notice when you are in a flow state, you will be becoming aware of where you are approaching peak performance. Where high performance is enjoyable for you. We tend to get into flow when we are using our unique and specific strengths.

As you reflect on those instances you may well be able understand your own unique strengths more deeply, and perhaps you can start to understand the conditions that need to be present for you to be uniquely at your best.

The Strengthsfinder organisation have an exercise they call, ‘name it, claim it, aim it’. I am asking you to do something similar.

Name it refers to understanding one or two of your unique strengths.

Claim it refers to accepting that unique strength as being an important part of what makes you uniquely great.

Aim it refers to deliberately using your uniqueness to achieve what you want to achieve.

Usually, we tell ourselves that we have to fix part of us before we can achieve what we want to achieve. Successful people understand their specific talents and how they can be aimed to achieve what they want to achieve. My route will be unique to me and yours to you.