We don’t learn from experience but from reflection — 3 Tips to implement reflection into your life
How many new things did you learn in 2018?
I assume that we all learn much more than we actually think or are aware of.
Every single day we live is packed full of experiences and learnings.
Even though most people think that they are living a highly monotonous life, you never experience 100% of one day again.
Some things are always different and if we properly reflect, we can learn a lot of new things each and every day.
We learn by experiences that allow us to (Wertenbroch, Nabeth, 2000):
- Absorb (see, hear, feel, taste, smell)
- Do (perform an activity)
- Interact (socialize)
In addition, we also learn by reflecting on such experiences (Dewey 1933)
Even though our lives are full of experiences, we often make the same mistake more than once and wonder why we experience the same bad feelings again.
Lately, I’ve come across the saying that we don’t learn by experience but through reflection and if I think of my own life and experiences in the past months, I can absolutely agree with that statement.
I’ve learned that reflection is a huge part of successes and wellbeing.
In most cases, our days and lives pass by quite quickly, therefore, regularly taking time off for reflection is the best thing one can do to ensure that you are living the life you want.
A 2014 study of the Harvard Business School states the following:
- Learning from direct experience can be more effective if coupled with reflection-that is, the intentional attempt to synthesize, abstract, and articulate the key lessons taught by experience.
- Reflecting on what has been learned makes the experience more productive.
- Reflection builds one’s confidence in the ability to achieve a goal (i.e., self-efficacy), which in turn translates into higher rates of learning.
Only a couple of minutes per day may be enough to properly reflect the experiences and learnings of a day.
There are dozens of apps or notebooks which are carefully designed to make people reflect and practice gratitude on a regular basis.
If you feel uncomfortable and don’t know where to start with your reflections I would highly advise the 5 Minute Journal.
As the name says — it only takes five minutes per day. Three minutes in the morning and two minutes in the evening.
Each day you have to answer the following questions:
I am grateful for …
What will I do to make today great? 1) 2) 3)
Daily affirmations. I am
Two things to fill out + photo in the evening:
3 Amazing things that happened today… 1) 2) 3)
How could I have made today even better?
Upload your photo of the day
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”― Melody Beattie
Using the app for one year it has become a fixed part of my morning and evening routine and I am really happy to have started with journaling. It helps me to be aware of the great things in my life and to set priorities for the important things.
I would highly recommend to start and trying to find out if journaling works out for everyone. I am sure that everybody can find a way that works for him or her and help to improve life for the better.
“To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.” — Eric Hoffer
Notebook
My personal #1 advice when it comes to refecting is to have a small notebook with you all the time.
My life really changed since I implemented this habit.
There are many different benefits that you see once you have a notebook with you all the time:
- If you practice deep, concentrate work, don’t let an idea disturb you — quickly write it down in your notebook to remember it later and continue the main work you were doing
- Taking note of powerful and inspirational quotes to stay motivated
- And most importantly: noting the wins and losses of the day, to be able to reflect daily.
For example, I have a page which is called ‘’One Line a Day’’ on a monthly basis where I simply sum up my day in one line. This allows me to reflect on the most beautiful things of the day and forces me to reflect immediately.
Walking
One more powerful way to reflect regularly is to take walks.
If taking out a notebook and writing or drawing is absolutely not yours, a quick walk with fresh air might be.
6 questions you can ask yourself during your daily reflection
If you still don’t know about what you should reflect, here are some ideas:
1. What surprised you today and why?
2. What’s the most important thing you learned today?
3. Was there anything that you got curious about today?
4. When were you at your best today and why?
5. What was your biggest success today?
6. Was there any interesting person you met today?
Do you practice any kind of regular reflection?
I would love to get insight into more ideas of reflection as I highly believe in the power of it!