WHY DO LEADERS NEED TO PRACTICE SELF-REFLECTION?
Leaders need to have a higher state of mind to face many challenges
The word reflection means learning and thinking about what we are learning, when we learn we move from one experience to a new experience. We create a new meaning out of that new learning. When it comes to self-reflection, we are learning about ourselves. Leaders need to learn constantly about themselves. Why? Because the more they know themselves the more resilient and happier they are. Introspection helps leaders to get clarity and new knowledge about themselves, this is powerful because it helps them to resist all work challenges and grow. New learning brings new light. Leaders cannot ignore their vulnerabilities, surroundings, coworkers, and what is happening within their organizations. Leaders need to have a different state of mind to resist all work challenges.
If you are working for a company and you want to enter into your meetings with a big smile you need to practice introspection. Any personal growth comes from self-understanding our reactions and perceptions to certain stimuli and experiences. When we practice self-reflection, we can discern, this helps us to be more balanced and happier. Working as a coach has forced me to reflect constantly and as a result, my self-awareness, health and happiness are higher. When I reflect, I learn more about my strengths and weaknesses and this new knowledge helps me to love myself more. This practice has improved my coaching reflective skills with my clients, which makes me a more effective professional. The more self-awareness we have the more we can help others to enhance this skill. In addition, gathering this information helps me reduce stress because I can reduce the inner unconscious stress loading. It also helps me to adjust my behavior and make a pause before I use my default reactions. It has helped me to identify my patterns, beliefs, and values that have kept me stuck before making a decision, now I can put myself in pause mode before I react and damage a relationship with a coworker.
Managers always need to be prepared for adversity. Self-reflection helps them to turn adversity into opportunities. Adversity reveals our limitations, and patterns and force us to face who we are. Self-reflection helps us to get to know ourselves and gain new insights. Self-reflection is a self-love practice, sometimes self-love is also looking at the things we would like to hide. For me spending time with myself has become a sacred practice, there are times when I need to take off what is weighing on my soul. For instance, sometimes a negative comment can stay with me for days. I tend to overthink and sometimes thoughts can grow and feel overwhelming. Knowing ourselves is not knowing about our favorite color or that we hate a type of chocolate, but about understanding many aspects of our personality that drives us to react. Being honest and raw with ourselves can be painful and eye-opening. We are used to viewing ourselves without fault because when were children our parents only saw the good things. But being ignorant is not bliss when we are adults. Uncovering our bad behavior is not a sunshine experience. Knowing that what we did was not right is not supposed to feel good because those behaviors have led to situations that have been costly to us in terms of our happiness and financial situations can feel sad.
Self-reflection is similar to peeling back a bandage wound and attempting to assess the damage. Did It heal properly? Will I be scarred permanently? How do I ensure this wound doesn’t happen again? After the trauma of the wound, we feel the pain, the hurt and we push through it. Then we heal, this part is so rewarding because we have discovered how our behavior has contributed to the wound. We are now educated about the wound and we are ready to move forward.
Why do we resist self-reflection?
Because we think that we don’t need it. Usually, people don’t do it until a very painful event in our lives happens like being fired at our work or after being rejected in a relationship. Self-discovery is about learning who we are. It teaches us about our automatic reactions and values. It gives us the ability to love ourselves, to accept ourselves, which is a process. It teaches us how to honor our feelings. If you are still struggling with how to explore yourself, you can contact a professional in this area.
