Reflective Thinking (RT)

Reflective Thinking (What)

Reflective Thinking (RT) is a method that equips an actor (person or group) to progressively achieve more of what they value most—thereby, continually creating a future that is better than the present.

RT can be done by

RT is used to improve X where the variable X represents anything that can be improved: relationships, happiness, sense of purpose, confidence, performance, methods, knowledge, financial performance, products (goods and services), systems, and so on. The list of things that can be improved is nearly infinite.

RT can be used by any person or group in any context (surrounding circumstances).

RT takes almost zero time and effort to apply; it is super easy.

The actions of RT involve systematically thinking back on experiences, asking insightful questions that promote growth, and finding the best answers to these questions. The RT process is done quickly and frequently.

Examples of RT

  1. A team uses RT to improve a product and thereby improve sales and customer satisfaction.

  2. A person applies RT to their problem solving with the result that they become a better problem solver.

  3. A couple applies RT to their financial management and increases their financial well-being.

  4. A person applies RT to their diet and the resulting changes lead to a healthier diet, permanent weight loss, and higher levels of satisfaction with their diet.

  5. A car company applies RT to their car model and makes thousands of improvements every year on this car.

  6. A college student applies RT to become better and better at learning itself. By the time they are a junior, they skip lectures and learn on their own because it is far more enjoyable and effective. In addition, this student has a great relationship with their teacher.

Rationale

Skill with RT is worthwhile for several reasons.

  1. Have justified hope and optimism because things are improving.

  2. Continually improve those things you want most want to improve: peace-of-mind, relationships, financial well being, performance, physical well being, coding, or whatever.

  3. RT provides high Payoffs. For every unit x you invest in RT, you get a payoff of 2x, 5x, or even better.

  4. Continually decrease drawbacks: stress, fear, frustration, conflicts, arguments, costs, time on task, calendar time to complete something, use of resources, waste, environmental harm, or whatever else matters to you.

  5. Improve rewards: satisfaction, confidence, peace of mind, learning, social connections, feeling cared about, financial rewards, social status, social power, and so forth.

  6. The same simple process can be used for improvement (growth) of anything.

  7. For most things, there is no upper limit on how much this thing can be improved. This creates hope, optimism, and a sense of let’s go.

  8. RT is especially useful for improving one’s life skills. Examples:

    1. Continually improve your critical thinking.
    2. Continually improve how you learn.
    3. Continually improve your communication.
    4. Also improve problem solving, research.

  9. Group RT provides high levels of trust, collaboration, and effectiveness.

Concerns.

  1. Uncommon. Out of the norm for most cultures. Not many examples that I know of.

  2. Must be done over and over to have it work. Cannot be just done once.

  3. Cannot be learned quickly. However, this is just like the piano and many other things; learning takes a lot of repetitions with embedded improvements.

  4. Does not happen by chance. One needs to be purposeful and systematic.

RT (How To)

Principles

  1. Unlimited Potential: Anything and everything can and should be improved. There is no upper limit.

  2. Payoffs: RT can and should be done in ways that provide massive positive payoffs; say 3X or 10X. A Payoffs is the rewards you get minus the drawbacks calculated holistically.

  3. Observation (not Judging): RT must be done with a mental state of observation not with a mental state of determining what is good and bad.

  4. Questions: RT is driven by killer questions; the better the questions, the better the RT.

  5. Team RT. Best thing ever. Super effective for improving results, performance, collaboration, and spirit. However, it must be led by someone who is skilled in RT and skilled in collaboration.

  6. RT only works when you write things down because all learning is based on repetitions and writing things down provides a foundation for repetition. However, there are two key things: write your findings down + revisit them from time to time (spaced repetitions).

Framework

Let X represent something that you care about. Think back in time about X. Ask great questions that promote careful thinking. Write your questions and answers down. Here are some examples of killer questions.

  1. Strengths: What actions were helpful? Why? How? (focus on identifying things you can repeat in the future; especially those that generalize to many things).

  2. Improvements: What concerns arose? What future actions can I take to lessen or extinguish these concerns? How might I take them (focus on creating an action plan you can implement).

  3. Rewards: What was rewarding? Did I get the rewards I thought I’d get? (focus on continually amping up your rewards).

  4. Next Actions. What can I do next? What should I do next? What else needs to be done? (focus on figuring out the next steps and possible future actions)

  5. Knowledge. What does X mean? How do I apply it? Why do I apply it? (focus on writing down super useful information that you figured out in the course of application).

Tips

  1. Metacognition. Be aware on an ongoing basis of what you are thinking and feeling. Do this without judgement.

  2. Mindfulness. Stay in the present moment focused on what you are doing. When your mind drifts, begin again.

  3. Do RT on an ongoing basis. Embed it in everything you do.

  4. Don’t expect to learn RT quickly. We used to do faculty workshops to teach RT. It took two full days for college professors to figure out what RT was about and two more days for them to learn how to do it at a basic level.