According to David Kolb’s model of learning, Reflection is an important part of the learning process. By observing and reflecting, then coming up with concepts and ideas, we make sense of our experiences and learn from them.

So how do you and I reflect?

My personal experience is that my best reflection is stimulated by a question. Without a question to focus my thinking, I can ramble off all over the place, considering a wide range of experience and information but without coming to any useful conclusion. To be honest, this is probably best described as ‘day-dreaming’ rather than ‘reflecting’!

So here is an exercise in reflective learning that you can do any time, anywhere. It can apply to a very specific context, or you can relate it to a much larger experience or longer time-frame. The important thing is to fully consider each question. Take your time and really reflect on everything that is relevant.

If you’re not currently in the mood for this kind of thinking, keep it until you’re in the right mood. Reflection goes with the least active periods of your daily rhythms, so don’t fight against your natural patterns. You may find it helpful to write some of this down as you go along.

Here goes…

Firstly, what do you want to reflect on today? As an example, let’s say you’re going to consider the whole of your personal and professional development this year.

What have you experienced?  Reflective learning concentrates on learning from experience, so it’s helpful to take stock of relevant experiences.

In the context of development this year you might consider a number of types of experiences:

• Training programmes you participated in, both live and online
• Coaching you received
• Books you read
• Challenging experiences at work and in your personal life
• Major decisions you made etc

What have you achieved?  For each of the experiences, consider what you achieved through that experience:

• Information learned
• Skills acquired
• Confidence gained
• Self-awareness discoveries
• Attitude shifts
• Relationships built etc

How can you apply those achievements in the future?  Look at your list of achievements and consider how you can make use of that new knowledge, skill, awareness or confidence in other areas of your life.

Now let’s take a different tack:

Reflecting on the same context, what HAVEN’T you experienced, that you would have liked to have done?

It could be specific learning opportunities like a course or a qualification; it might be an experience like presenting to the Board, or securing an interview for promotion. It might simply be some books you didn’t get around to reading or a conversation you wanted to have with a particular person you couldn’t get the time with.

If you had experienced those things, what else would you have learned? Think about why you wanted those particular experiences and how you would have developed as a result.

In other words, what learning have you missed out on?

• Information learned
• Skills acquired
• Confidence gained
• Self-awareness discoveries
• Attitude shifts
• Relationships built etc

From here you can identify the areas of learning that are still relevant and which you still want. Having missed out on them this year, you might make them a priority for next year.

Let’s go one step further…

Reflecting on what you have found out by doing this exercise, what do you now know about yourself in relation to learning and development? Are there particular types of learning experience that are especially meaningful for you? Are there some that are less easy to get benefit from?

How can you use that insight to improve your approach to personal and professional development?

We all love a good quote. Have you ever wondered why that is?

I think that, in my case, some of my favourite quotes are those which, at the time I first encountered them, summed up an important thought or principle that was relevant to my life at the time.

Like poetry, a good quote encompasses economy of words, abundance of meaning and an eloquence or beauty of expression that makes us think, ‘I wish I’d said that’.

So today, I thought I would share a few of my own favourite quotes…

Top of the list, always, is this:

“Nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so.”  William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

I participated in a school production of Hamlet when I was 17. Being blessed with a good memory, although I didn’t have a speaking part, I ended up word perfect on vast swathes of the play. But this particular line didn’t stick with me until I saw Kenneth Branagh’s epic four-hour production in 1992. It was the same year I first started learning NLP and this line seemed to encapsulate so much.

Next up, from the same year:

“How you are used to being is not necessarily who you are.”  Ian McDermott (NLP Trainer)

Anyone who has trained with Ian McDermott will, at some point, have heard him say this. Usually during an NLP Practitioner training. Some of us used to have sweatshirts with it printed on the front! Why so significant? Early in my journey of self-development, the distinction between what you do and who you are was important. Our habits might appear to define us, but in fact they are not – necessarily – an expression of who we are.

Then, back to the Bard:

“Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing the attempt.”  William Shakespeare (Measure for Measure)

This is basically just a highbrow way of saying, ‘don’t let your fears and doubts hold you back’, but the phrase has a lovely lyrical quality that rolls off the tongue. When I watch one of Shakespeare’s plays, often a line will jump out at me, and this is one of them. I don’t remember now, which production it was, but the line stuck.

And to prove that I do read writers other than Shakespeare…

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.  Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

George Bernard Shaw

I first came across this not long after I started my own business. It seemed to sum up the attitude of a lot of the clients I had been working with. They were the ‘unreasonable men’ (and women) who had the potential for a major impact in their employer’s organisation. The challenge was always the make sure the impact was constructive!

For a final example, I’m going back to my beloved Shakespeare…

I meet with my team of Associates several times per year for a full day meeting. A few years ago, when we could still meet in person, one of our meetings fell on 23^rd April, which is Shakespeare’s birthday. I couldn’t resist having a Shakespeare-themed team meeting! It began with me producing my bear, Will, from a bag and sitting him at the head of the table. I told the team, “I’ve brought Will because it’s his birthday and he doesn’t get out much”. (I’ll leave it to the people who were present to comment on how they received that.)

As each member of the team gave their updates, I presented them with a ‘goodie bag’ from the RSC gift shop. Mugs, badges and coasters featured heavily.

At the end of the day, when we had thrashed out a strategy for the following three months, I concluded with this quote:

“There is a tide in the affairs or men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune” William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar)

I could go on, but I’d actually prefer to hear your favourite quotes.  Please post a favourite quote and why it is meaningful for you in the ‘comments’ section below.