Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Why It's Important to Stop and Reflect




The Poet (French: Le Penseur) is a bronze and
marble sculpture by Auguste Rodin held in the
Musée Rodin in Paris . It depicts a man in sober
meditation battling with a powerful internal
struggle. It is often used to represent philosophy.

There is this poem: "What is this life if, full of care, We
have no time to stand and stare?"

We are all in such a rush to get to our next destination we
have no time to stop and reflect on where we have been and
what we have done. There always the fear that if we stop the
others who keep on going will overtake us and we will be left
behind in life's race.

But suppose we could do even better with less need to rush
along?

Reflection is a huge part of the learning process.

And the more knowledge you have and apply, the more power
you wield. This knowledge may provide you a way to stop
rushing along with the others and find a simpler method of
achieving success without the need to always keep running.

All our lives are lived in stages. We were infants who learn
observing how others behave. Then we go to school where a
formal system of teaching us begins and continues for twelve
years. Some of us go on to the university for another few years
before working. Our working lives too are a series of stages,
with one promotion and change of work after another, until
most of us retire. In each stage we do the best we can with the
tools and knowledge at our disposal. But we could have more
and be better equipped.


Hindsight has a very negative connotation. But if can
also be used for good. Taking time to reflect on things that
happened in the past using the hindsight of the knowledge
and experience you have gained since then, will often show you
ways in which you could have improved you performance in the
past. So what good does that do you now?

Well, consider someone learning to bake for the first time.
Whatever the results may have been, good or bad, looking
back after a few years of baking experience behind him will
allow our chef to see ways that in which he could have
produced a better cake that time.

Now suppose he did this exercise after his second baking
attempt. The second attempt will be better than the first,
because he would have learned more. But if he had
reflected in detail on the first attempt, he may have found
still more areas for improvement than the obvious ones he
picked up on. The third cake will not just be an improvement
on the second but will be the result of all that he has learned
from his previous experiences.

This will not only help him to do better, but will give
him the confidence to think of ways to reduce the work
involved and make things easier for himself. In other
words, a way out of the race to keep up.
You need not always reflect alone. Sitting with other
to analyze the past means more minds focused on the issue
which will result in a great understanding of what you
need to do in the future. The more minds shining their
light on a past situation, the more light the past will shed
on the present.

Reflection does not mean looking back and
beating yourself up for the mistakes you made or the
opportunities you let slip through your fingers.

Those have all long since been lost in the mists of time
and there's nothing you can do to bring them back. But
being able to look back and use the knowledge you have
acquired since then to understand how you can improve
today is the base of future success.

Think about it.

QUOTE OF THE POST
"A wise man gives thought to his ways.." - Proverbs

2 comments:

Jennifer A. said...

There's nothing like a good reflection. It is even in the silence of our thoughts that God's voice becomes LOUDER. If we can just sit down, be still, and reflect...we would probably avoid a lot of mistakes.

Really liked this! (First time here).

Segedoo said...

Yeah jaycee.
In Quiet and confidence lies our STRENGTH.

ita paradox - so simple and yet so hard.

Thanks for commenting. i appreciate it a lot.