With how fast-paced the modern workplace is, it’s hard to find time to do self-reflection. After all, why worry about the past when you have looming price increases to worry about in the present?
However, there are several benefits of self-reflection you’re missing because of this.
But first, what is self-reflection? Self-reflection is a mental process to help you grow your understanding of who you are: your values and why you think, act, and feel the way you do. It is a great tool to help you remain grounded and focused on your goals.
What are these benefits? Let’s find out.
How Do I Do Self-reflection?
If you’re having difficulty figuring out how to do self-reflection, here are some career reflection questions you can use:
- What are my current strengths? Which areas do I need to improve?
- What are my achievements lately?
- What are my short-term and long-term career goals?
- Have I been taking steps to achieve my career goals? What are these steps?
- Who or what are my priorities?
- What are my current interests?
These aren’t the only questions you can ask yourself, but these are a good start. Remember, when self-reflecting, you must be honest and objective to get all the benefits of self-reflection.
In addition, self-reflection isn’t just a one-off deal. You should do it regularly so you can remain updated with yourself.
One way to do so is by using a career reflection journal. This journal helps you keep track of your thoughts, values, and goals.
Self-reflection Helps Ground Your Goals and Values.
We’ve all heard the saying: “Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan, hindi makararating sa paroroonan.” If you have no idea why you’re doing what you’re doing right now, you’ll become confused and lose your way.
One of the main benefits of self-reflection is that it reminds you of your goals and values. This allows you to adjust your actions to align with them and avoid making any mistakes in your career.
For example, if your goal this year is to earn a raise, ask yourself whether you have taken steps to achieve this or not? If not, what should you do then?
Doing This Allows You to See How Far You’ve Come.
There will be times in your career when you encounter seemingly insurmountable problems that make you doubt yourself. When these instances happen, remember to look back and reflect on all your previous successes.
Doing so helps you become more confident in your abilities and gives you the courage to face any challenges. You’ve faced many challenges before and prevailed, right? So why should you let this one stop you?
Besides boosting your self-confidence, self-reflection also allows you to take stock of your current situation to better come up with a solution. After all, it is difficult to think of a solution when you’re demoralized and panicking. By reflecting on what you can and can’t do, you can produce a solution best suited to your problem.
Self-reflection Helps You Learn From Your Mistakes and Remain Humble.
Self-reflection isn’t just about boosting your confidence. A large part of it also requires you to honestly and objectively critique yourself. Obviously, this isn’t easy, as nobody wants to revisit painful memories or acknowledge their mistakes.
But one can never learn from their mistakes without facing and accepting them first. Doing so will help you avoid making them again and discover what you could’ve done better.
Another benefit of reflecting on your mistakes is it helps keep you humble and aware of your shortcomings. This is especially important if you’re in a managerial position – it’s all too easy to let all that authority get into your head, after all.
Doing This Motivates You to Be Better.
Self-reflection doesn’t end with just being aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Now that you know you still have a lot of things to improve in line with your goals and values, what will you do next?
Part of self-reflection is using what you’ve learned about yourself to grow and be better. Doing so allows you to better achieve your career goals while remaining true to your values.
Of course, just like the act of self-reflection, changing yourself for the better takes plenty of time and effort. So if you aren’t noticing any significant changes initially, don’t be discouraged. Just continue trying to improve yourself, and before you know it, you’ve made good progress.
Know Yourself, Know Success.
Practicing self-reflection isn’t something you usually associate with achieving your career goals. Besides, it’s time-consuming and a little uncomfortable to do. But as the above benefits of self-reflection show, practicing this skill helps you assess and guide you towards your career goals.
If one of your current career goals is to gain a part-time or full-time job, Remote Staff is here to help. Our jobs list has a wide variety of positions to choose from. Good luck!
