The Power of Reflection

Two days ago, I wrote the following in my notes at around 9:30 pm. This is a raw sneak peek into my mind. No edits. No manipulation. Just an unfiltered, in-the-moment thought I had:

“I’m on fire right now… Within the last 20 minutes, I’ve written rough outlines of 5 blog post ideas so far. How? By reflecting on the last few days of my life and searching for interesting things that have happened.”

If that’s not powerful to you, then let me explain why you should care about this (potentially) iconic quote from me…

Today, I posted on LinkedIn about the power of reflection on my learning processes. When I take the time to reflect and write once I’m done studying or reading a new topic, I retain more information. My brain absorbs more knowledge.

And I’m feeling meta right now because after writing that LinkedIn post, I began reflecting on my reflecting process.

Crazy, I know.

I discovered that reflecting on life makes an incredible impact on your creativity, too.

As I said at the beginning of this post, I outlined 5 blog posts within 20 minutes. All because I took the time to think back to what I had done over the previous two weeks. I searched for memorable, funny, sad, and exciting moments that I deemed “storyworthy.”

Using the moments I collected, I tried connecting the stories with data lessons.

Most of the time, I came up with nothing.

But a few of the memories produced some incredible and powerful data stories that I can’t wait to share with you.

This post is a prime example!

Reflecting on my reflecting helped me find a valuable data habit you can use to improve your problem-solving skills and work more efficiently.

Here it is…

It turns out reflection isn’t only a process useful to my fellow writers and content creators.

It matters to the Dorky World of Data, too.

Whenever my boss throws a new project or task my way, I don’t immediately dive into the dataset. I take time to reflect on what I have done in the past. Most data projects don’t involve reinventing the wheel. Solutions and methods from previous tasks I’ve completed are similar to the current problem at hand.

So, rather than starting from scratch every time, taking 5-10 minutes (or sometimes longer) to reflect on old problems helps me streamline the problem-solving process and finish my work faster without sacrificing accuracy.

I’m not a manager. I don’t have any direct reports.

However, I know that data analysts who work fast and efficiently are valuable to any company. So, next time you start a new task/project, take a few minutes to reflect on the old work you have done. Think about what tactics or solutions can help you solve your current problem.

There’s a power in reflection that few people know about.

It’ll make you a better creative.
It’ll make you a better problem solver.
It’ll make you a better data analyst.

And now…

You know the power of reflection. So wield it wisely, my fellow data dork.