Working people are stressed. The modern workplace seems to be a place of long hours, with an ‘always on’ culture and an addiction to busyness, reacting and just ‘doing’ stuff. So it’s more important than ever to take time out to reflect on what you’re doing, in order to take control, make adjustments, learn and improve, re-focus and plan ahead.
Many people think they don’t have enough time in their calendar to stop and reflect. However, investing time and effort in reflecting can be time well spent and can actually save time in the long run. It can:
- help you feel a sense of achievement as you remember and celebrate what you’ve accomplished
- help you question your activities and behaviour and see if you can learn new or better ways to do things
- allow you to think longer-term and plan or focus on how to spend your time best.
- help you learn and improve over time
Self-reflection is good, but you need to be disciplined. It’s easy to be pulled back into doing something ‘urgent’ again. Reflecting alone might also keep you stuck in a certain way of thinking.
This is where having a coach can be helpful. Coaching can be seen as reflecting with a partner – a thought partner. This brings a number of benefits:
Scheduling in time
My coachees have commented that the logistics alone can be helpful in making progress. Having a coaching session scheduled in the calendar commits you to taking the time and space you need to think.
Accountability partner
Having a coach means there is someone who will hold you accountable for any actions you decide to take forward. Because you know your coach will ask you about the actions you’ve promised to do, you’ve committed to a deadline and this gives the impetus to move forward, and keeps you on track.
So the discipline of putting time in the diary, and having someone to hold you accountable, can be helpful in itself.
The power of speaking your thoughts out loud
In addition, coachees have remarked on how powerful it is when you speak your thoughts out loud. Somehow, the thoughts that have been mulling around in your mind suddenly become real when they are spoken to another person. You hear yourself saying the words and consider how they sound.
This is where the skills of a coach can really add value. The coach will listen intently and reflect back the words you’re saying. They may also reflect what they notice from your emotions, body language, tone etc. You know your coach will not judge you but rather may ask you questions to deepen your thinking. And your coach won’t offer their own ‘solution’ or rush to give advice.
So however you decide to do it, if you want to make progress, invest in time to reflect.
“The quality of everything we do depends on the quality of the thinking we do first.” Nancy Kline