By Caren Diehl
Importance of Reflection
We are a person first and then an athlete, a sport psychologist, a CEO, a Chef, or whatever else your profession may be. As we are a person first it is important to understand that each of us has individual characteristics, personalities which will influence how we do our work, how we interact with others. This isn’t a limitation instead it can enrich the experience. Though to do so you need to understand WHO YOU ARE. It is important that you schedule time in your week for reflection. As it will help you understand you and manage yourself better. It will help you get a deeper understanding of why you reacted the way you did. Why you did what you did, which in turn will help you improve, not only yourself but also how you interact with others and reflecting on your performance.
Another factor to include in your reflection is exploring your thoughts, feelings, and actions in regard to your cultural identity, as the world is becoming more and more a melting pot of cultures it’s important to become aware of any biases you may have, assumptions you may be making.
Firstly though a definition of reflection is needed. Boyd and Fales (1983) defined it as: “the process of internally examining and exploring an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self and results in a changed conceptual perspective” (p.100). However, it is important to understand that reflective practice should be seen in more of a holistic way as it includes emotions.
There are three levels of reflection (ideally you should practice all three levels):
- Technical: concerned with standards, competencies, and development of mechanical aspects of practice.
- Practical: here you would explore personal meaning in a situation, how your personal experience may have influenced the situation, presuppositions, perceptions, and understanding of the context on your own and your client’s feelings and actions.
How to Reflect:
It is important that you schedule reflection time. I tend to advise the athletes I work with to do it after each training session and after each competition day/event. Ideally spend time and write in a diary or on your phone. The reason I recommend writing it down is so that you can reread it and see what further lessons you can take from it, or to show it to another person to discuss. As they may see things that you weren’t aware of.
The key thing is though that you WANT TO IMPROVE and that you are willing to take on board feedback about your performance. The process of reflection can be uncomfortable as it deals with emotions and thoughts which aren’t always positive or comfortable. It forces you to be honest with yourself which isn’t always easy. You get to explore some of the tough questions that you need to ask yourself so that you can grow and improve not just in sports, business, or any other profession but also as a person. As you are a person FIRST.
In the figure above, you can see the 6-stage model of reflection. Work your way through each of the stages while you are doing your reflection. This will give the reflection a bit more structure and guidance to help peel back the onion layers that make up the person who you are.
Reflection Examples
Based on the above model here are 30 examples of questions you could ask yourself. Starting off with giving a bit of a descriptive overview of the event that you are reflecting about (who, where, when, and what?)
- What is my performance like?
- Why is it like this?
- How has it come to be this way?
- What aspects of it would I like to improve?
- How did I feel about this experience when it was happening?
- What pressures prevent/limit me from practicing/performing in alternative ways?
- What alternatives are available to me right now?
- How did the other people involve feel
- What went well?
- My strengths?
- What didn’t go so well?
- My weaknesses?
- What was I trying to achieve?
- Why did I intervene as I did/ Why did I do what I did?
- What internal factors influenced my actions (thoughts, feelings, previous experience)
- Which external factors influenced my actions?
- What sources of knowledge did/should have influenced my decision making?
- How can you use what you know to move forwards and improve?
- What were the consequences of my actions? (what did I learn/realise)?
- How did I know what they were feeling?
- What do you need from others to get the best out of yourself?
- Who are the key people you need to communicate well with (on/off the pitch)?
- What have you contributed to this team or what strengths do you bring to this team?
- How did my understanding of the athlete’s cultural identity impact the process?
- What biases did I bring into the situation/event?
- Could I have dealt with the situation better?
- What other choices did I have?
- What would be the consequence of these choices?
- How do I now feel about the experience?
- How have I made sense of this experience in light of past experiences and future events?
Finish with writing down the key lessons you learned
Writing in a journal is a great start but you need to learn to dig deeper and that’s not always possible on your own, so it would help if you work with someone either a supervisor, a sport psychologist, another expert in your field to help you explore your reflections further.
Reflection on being a Third Culture Kids
Being a Third Culture Kid and having worked and lived in 7 countries, this plays a part when I do my reflection. During my consultation, did certain stereotypes and assumptions make me jump to conclusions? How did I make sure I avoided these? Could the session have gone differently had I been more/less aware of the cultural differences between us? How did my cultural background impact that of the athlete I was seeing? Did they have biases towards me? How did I become aware of these?
This is just an example of some of the questions I might ask myself while doing my reflection. Whether you used some or all of the above questions listed, it’s important that you did deeper, after writing something, ask yourself why did that happen, why did I react that way or any number of how questions or what questions as probing questions to peel back just another layer.
To Conclude
In conclusion, reflection is important in improving yourself awareness and in turn will help you be successful, as you are exploring different ways to improve and be the best person you can be but also the best in your profession. It can be an uncomfortable process but it is well worth it, especially if you are working with some be it a sport psychologist, a line manager, or anyone else that you respect and trust.
References
Anderson, A.G., Knowles, Z. & Gilbourne, D. (2004). Reflective practice for sports psychologists: Concepts, models, practical implications, and thoughts on dissemination. The Sport Psychologist, 18, 188-203
Boyd, E., & Fales, A. (1983). Reflective learning: Key to learning from experience. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 29, 99-117