Tips for reflection

Reflection has been a buzz word for a number of years and when used effectively it can have huge impact on your progress and success.

However what makes effective reflection and do you get taught it?

Within our development circles we have collated 5 tips for reflection that has produced the most consistent success.

Tip 1. Reflection or review?

In sport, you may hear terms along the lines of "Plan, Do, Review", "What went well?", "Even Better If?". These are useful questions when looking at a particular event in relation to a goal you are working towards.

For example, a game or training session.

What went well? - We kept the ball well and moved the defensive shape around into a non compact shape.

Even Better if? - When we get in the final third, we need to take chances better.

This type of review provides some clarity on what to do next time.

A reflection however should focus wider on your involvement and impact on the event.

Have you prepare the team well in the final third to take chances?

Does your behaviour match the intended goal?

Did you create the ideal environment for your team to flourish and strive under pressure conditions?

A review is factual, a reflection informs our actions to change the facts.

Tip 2. Reflect backwards and forwards!

Some people see reflection as what happened, what would I change and do differently. We encourage people to use the following concept.

You are in the drivers seat of your car. You are in the middle of a three car traffic jam.

Previous self

You can see behind you in your mirrors your previous self/state. (This can start to look like a review).

What do you see in your mirrors?

How do you look?

What is happening?

What's making you act and behave like that?

By asking these questions you can gain a wider and deeper understanding of what was going on at the time that influenced your actions and behaviours.

For example, looking back at your behaviour in the build up to the game.

How were you interacting with the attackers?

How was your own preparation the morning of the game?

Did your behaviour match the intentions to build confidence in your team?

Aspirational Self

Now look at the car in front of you. This is your future self, your aspirational self.

What are you doing?

How do you feel?

What is making you feel that way?

By trying to understand what is going on in your aspirational self, you can begin to reflect that into the present moment. Reflecting the good aspirational behaviours in the present.

Back to the example.

In the next game, how are you behaving now to build confidence in your team?

What are you doing?

Who are you speaking to?

How are you speaking to them?

Now you have reflected on your previous and aspirational self, you can start actioning any changes in your current self.

This then gives you clarity in your intentions.

Tip 3. Journal

Keeping a journal for your reflections is a proven way to be more effective and impactful with your intentions and reflections.

It is easy to be passive in your days and "just get through it". As sports people we should be striving to be better every single day, however what does better look like each day?

By having a journal, a physical space for our goals, intentions and reflections, we are more likely to achieve what we set our efforts on. This is because we are seeing our goals regularly and we can match our intentions, behaviours and actions towards what we are aiming for while adjusting to the daily demands and changes.

The reflection part of the journal becomes very impactful when you can look backwards throughout the journal and see your progress. As we said, it is easy to be passive in your days and lose track of your progress, so seeing how you were actioning, behaving and feeling three months ago allows you to see how far you have come.

The intentions element of a journal provides you the space to add your aspirational reflections which will keep you accountable for your efforts and actions that day.

If you are new to journaling take a look at our journaling section.

Journals

Tip 4. Breadcrumb goals

To fuel your motivation to achieve, set weekly or monthly achievable goals that require effort. These breadcrumb goals will keep you focused and release the reward chemical Dopamine around our bodies.

By writing these breadcrumb goals in our journal we will be able to see them regularly and stay on track to achieve them.

We also have the opportunity to reflect on our progress towards goals more often.

Remember, look wider on the goal progress rather than a review on what happened and what would you change.

Tip 5. Script Questions

Here is a simple script of questions to get your started on your intentions and reflections.

Before the event

What are your intentions?

How do you need to behave to achieve your intentions?

Who do you need to spend time with?

What could prevent you from achieving your intentions?

How have you prepared yourself for this moment?

What else has been going on that has distracted or interfered with your preparation?

How would a successful you be on first contact today?

Who haven’t you interacted with enough recently?

What one thing could make the difference in your success today?

What can you control?

How can you control it?

What can you influence?

How can you influence it?

After the event

What was your intention?

What happened?

Who was there/involved?

What was your best moment from today?

How did you achieve this moment?

As a result of your actions, what happened next?

Who else was impacted by this moment?

What stopped you achieving moments like this more often?

How did you feel when you achieved this?

What allowed you to achieve this?

When can you action this more often?

What would this look like on a regular basis?

If you were to tweak anything from this success to have even more or wider impact, what would that look like?

From your preparation, what gave you the best opportunity to achieve your intentions?

Would more of this be better?

Try to introduce your own questions and script when you get the hang of the process.

Pick and choose which questions are best suited for you as well.

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Reflection must impact future action

Keep striving