Wanna know the outcome of my most recent "debrief" with my wife?
Pack the backpacking stove (even if we're not backpacking), 2-3 freeze-dried backpacking meals, better salt, and decent utensils. Always keep a headlamp in the car. And it never hurts to have a water filter.
Yeah, I know. You're busy. You're not alone. But being busy doesn't mean you can't use the time you do have wisely. As a matter of fact, I'd offer that your busyness mandates you use every minute as intentionally as possible. Enter: reflection.
If you're like me, you spend your days and nights moving seamlessly from one task to the next. One project to the next. One chore to the next.
There's rarely time to sit back and reflect on what we've just done. What we've just accomplished. As soon as the email is sent, we jump straight into the next thing, never looking back.
And to be honest, there's not always a need for reflection. It might not serve us to sit and think, "was that the best version of a reply I could've come up with?"
No — some tasks, once wrapped, never need to be revisited.
But for other tasks and projects, taking the time to reflect on the work we've done can be hugely beneficial. Especially if we're working with a team. Debriefing work done together so we can improve both process and outcome is a no-brainer... but rarely done.
Simple scaffolding — a few prompts — to reflect on your work lets you see what went well, what could use some tweaking, what questions arose, and gives you a chance to note new ideas that surfaced along the way.
That all sounds very businessy. But we can apply these same tools to our personal life.
For instance, my wife and I got out of town for a little weekend getaway. We drove up to a small lakeside town in Kentucky, found a tiny Airbnb, and spent the weekend walking, reading, and paddling. Okay, there was birdwatching too. We watch birds. Whatever.
On our way home, we stopped by a little pond in Land Between the Lakes State Park and ate cheese, crackers, and blueberries. This is where we — very informally — debriefed our trip. We talked about what we liked about the rental, the area, the restaurants we ate at, and maybe most importantly, what we packed. We're getting better and better about the food we bring, the utensils, all of it. The little things that make our trips easier and more delightful.
This kind of reflection will definitely inform our next mini-getaway. We didn't open a laptop, assign someone to scribe, or even whip out Post-its. But we did take a few minutes to dedicate real time to reflecting on what worked and what didn't.
On our next trip, our car kit will be even more dialed in — ready to take advantage of impromptu picnic spots, unplanned hikes, or even an extra night or two. This, in the most casual way possible, is the power of reflection.
Whether it's a meeting, a team project, an end-of-year review, or something similar, be thoughtful about carving out dedicated time to reflect on:
- what went well
- what could use some improvement
- what new ideas came up
- what questions you now have
This could take as little as five minutes, and thirty at the most.
What's an area of your work or life that could seriously benefit from some reflection?