THE PRACTICE OF REFLECTION

Learning from mistakes and growing from failure requires accountability and integrity. We must be honest with ourselves, confront our shortcomings, and desire to learn and bounce back stronger and wiser. This is only possible through a consistent process of reflection and critical introspection.

What is Reflection?

Reflection is the disciplined process of holding oneself accountable. We practice this critical introspection because we care about performing our best, desire to learn from mistakes and continue forward progress. We must learn to set our egos down and push them to the side in a humble attempt to improve.

Without taking the time to identify our mistakes and address lessons learned, we are doomed to repeat them.

When reflecting upon our conduct, we must ask the question, "Are my actions and words in alignment with who I am and who I want to be?"

When it comes to performance, it is beneficial to pose the questions, "Was I adequately prepared, and if allowed to go again in the future, what would I do differently, and why?

No matter the experience, either positive or negative, we can always learn from it by extracting the valuable information gained, implementing those lessons learned into our training, and showing up more prepared for future endeavors.

Reflection For Performance

When assessing performance, it is critical that we seek out constructive criticism and confront our mistakes from a non-judgmental position. Mistakes made as a result of flaws in character must also be quickly addressed and corrected.

Failures hurt, but we must face them, own up to them, and figure out how to move forward effectively with the corrected course of action. It is okay to make mistakes, it is NOT okay to make the same mistakes again and again!

Reflect upon your training, nutrition, interactions, and relationships with others.

Take the time to practice introspection and think about how you performed throughout your professional and personal life and what took place. Are you happy with today’s outcomes? What specific actions could be better tomorrow? Make this a daily practice for optimal growth in your personal development.

Did you crush it today, or did you come up short in any areas? It’s okay because tomorrow is another opportunity to do it right!

If things didn’t go well today, don’t lose your heart or beat yourself up. What has happened is done. The only thing you can do now is to learn from the mistakes made and move forward.

Think through ways to improve upon the respective situation(s). Identify where you came up short and why. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What mistakes were made?

• Why did I come up short?

• What can I do to correct these mistakes and ensure a better performance next time?

• How can I move forward from this point?

Tie up loose ends by righting any wrongs and begin tomorrow on a clean slate.

When you recognize you made a mistake and are aware of what needs to be done to correct it, do not waste time! Quickly address the problem and work on implementing the known solution. This becomes a reality through reflection.

This time of reflection and introspection is crucial. Reflection can be done during your drive home from work, right before you go to bed, when you go for a walk, during a physical training session later on in the day, or whenever you have a moment to contemplate the situation or event without distraction. The key element here is to discipline yourself to reflect every single day.

Another critical aspect of reflection is to identify the keys to your success.

It is important not to become complacent or arrogant in success, as this can lead to complacency. Instead, identify ways to innovate and continue your patterns of success.

Our situations and environments are constantly evolving and changing. What worked today may not work tomorrow. We have to remain vigilant and continue the practice of personal accountability to grow.

The goal of reflection should be to consistently set aside quality time to focus on how to be better than you were yesterday. After identifying what it takes to improve and become better, we implement these practices into our daily preparation moving forward. This process of personal accountability is essential for continued progress and growth.

Debriefs and AARs

In special operations, we are often debriefed on our performance throughout training and I would replay these scenarios in my mind and think through my mistakes and how to do my job better the next day.

When I was operational, I regularly took the time during my drive home from work to reflect upon my performance, my actions, and my conduct during the day. This allowed me to confront any mistakes I had made in training head-on and decide how to correct them moving forward.

In the SEAL teams, we held ourselves accountable through internal debriefs. This is where we learn firsthand from our own mistakes after an evolution.

We learn from the mistakes of others through After Action Reviews or AARs. This is our opportunity to learn from other units within the SEAL community and or other organizations within special operations. These processes ultimately serve to make us better warfighters.

You can also create a similar process for yourself through reflective journaling and going out of your way to seek constructive criticism and learn from people who are more experienced than you and whom you respect.

Get Ready! Stay Ready!