It’s been an odd time. It’s been a time to reflect and review recent events in a few areas of my life and work. I’ve some new business opportunities I am working on and rethinking how I work and when. Sometimes you just need to change it up, but it’s also good to reflect on how I spend my time at work and home to see if being more thoughtful about approaching this could improve anything.
I also have a teenager in the house, and trying to help them think about how to improve their behaviour led me to reflect on what has worked well for me and how it might work well for them. I also like to Champion not just essential skills on this podcast for our industry and profession but also approaches and ideas to help us feel better, work better and reach our personal goals as humans.
Reflection time is something we all talk about, and there is evidence to support that it can help improve our well-being by allowing us to reflect on thoughts and emotions and the actions we’ve taken. It can also help us identify areas in which we could improve.
So today, I cover reflective thinking and some tips on how it can improve your comms strategy and general well-being.
Let’s dive in.
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Links in this episode:
Sketchnotes https://www.sketchnotes.co.uk/
OneNote (Microsoft Office needed)
MindMap apps (App Store)
Bullet Journal https://bulletjournal.com/
Remarkable 2 https://remarkable.com/
Full Transcript (unedited)
It’s been an odd time. It’s been a time to reflect and review recent events in a few areas of my life and work. I’ve some new business opportunities I am working on and rethinking how I work and when. Sometimes you just need to change it up, but it’s also good to reflect on how I spend my time at work and home to see if being more thoughtful about approaching this could improve anything.
I also have a teenager in the house and trying to help them think about how to improve their behaviour led me to reflect on what has worked well for me and how it might work well for them. I also like to Champion not just essential skills on this podcast for our industry and profession but also approaches and ideas to help us feel better, work better and reach our personal goals as humans.
Reflection time is something we all talk about, and there is evidence to support that it can help improve our wellbeing by allowing us to reflect on thoughts and emotions and the actions we’ve taken. It can also help us identify areas in which we could improve.
So today, I cover reflective thinking and some tips on how it can improve your comms strategy and general wellbeing.
Let’s dive in.
A reflective thinker is someone who can step back and take a look at their life and the decisions they’ve made. Reflection time can help you to understand why you do things, and it can also give you a better understanding of your wellbeing.
When we are running around trying to do everything, it can be draining and also it can decrease our productivity overall. Doing a little bit of everything can also mean doing nothing particularly well, and that can lead to a feeling of being overwhelmed.
I think it’s just another way of reviewing what’s going well and whether we would change anything should it happen again.
There are several tools you could use for this; here are a few;
Journalling. Journalling is a great way to track your thoughts.
It can be beneficial in terms of reflecting on your life and your decision. You can use journalling to document your ideas and return to them next time you are in the same situation. Sometimes, writing things down is therapeutic, so this one is a double whammy. Journalling can also help build self-esteem and help you understand your own behaviour. It can also help you to think about what you could do better in the future.
They can take many forms; blogs, diaries, notes or bullet points. Some ready-made notebooks and tools can help with this, like OneNote, diaries, or a plain old Moleskin notebook. I also have a fancy new Remarkable 2, an electronic notebook. I have found this useful. I also use notes on my iPhone and then send them to my Remarkable for editing later.
Lists, bullet points and tables;
Now, this depends on how you like to format your thoughts, and the Bullet Journal above is one of these methods – or bullet journaling generally.
A bullet journal (sometimes known as a BuJo) is a method of personal organization developed by designer Ryder Carroll. The system organizes scheduling, reminders, to-do lists, brainstorming, and other organizational tasks into a single notebook. The name “bullet journal” comes from using abbreviated bullet points to log information, but it also partially comes from using dot journals, which are gridded using dots rather than lines.
Not for everyone, but you can buy them online in stores such as Amazon.
Audiovisual reminders – audio or video blogs or notes taken on an iPhone
I love voice notes on my phone as they allow me to capture ideas, thoughts, and snippets on the go. I can also reflect quickly at the moment without waiting for the evening or later on that day to fill in a journal or be near my electronic notepad. It’s also possible to organize these into folders to send them to yourself, which is very handy.
If you speak into Otter.ai, it will also transcribe them in one app, A MAZE ING! You can have everything in one place, but recording how you feel is easiest for you.
If you are out walking the dog, you may have your best ideas, so using voice memoir and transcribe options can be an excellent way to do this.
You may find a video is a good option for you, and video can do this the same way, but it is a bit trickier to categorize and use folders I have found.
Mind mapping can be beneficial for reflective thinking as it can help you see the big picture and break things down into smaller, more manageable chunks.
You can use mind maps to brainstorm ideas, plan projects, map out processes, and track your progress. You can also use mind maps to record your thoughts and ideas as they come to you, which can be helpful if you find that you have a lot of ideas but are unsure how to organize them. There are a lot of mind mapping apps and software programs available, so you can find one that suits your needs.
Some handy apps for doing this, too, such as (all in the App store or Android App store):
Mind map Maker
Xmind
Mindnode
SimpleMind
MindSpace
Sketchnotes are also becoming a popular way of noting all sorts of things an excellent for reflective thinking through visual clues and sketching. Sketchnotes could use this to capture as you go, reflect on what you have captured throughout the day and write a summary of what you’ve learned or would do differently.
You may come up with some sketches to summarise how you are feeling or what you would do differently. Try it out.
And let’s not forget talking to people is a great way to reflect on what’s happening around you, process information and what’s going on in the world of work and get some much-needed perspective on what’s important so we can move forward.
I hope you enjoyed this episode; I would love to know if you’ve tried any of these approaches and what’s worked / not worked for you.