Make time this summer for some self-reflection!

Self-reflection is the process of examining ourselves, analysing what and why we did things and identifying what we learnt. There is no right way to reflect but it is often beneficial to ask yourself questions about the event/experience that you would like to reflect on.

What are the benefits of self-reflection?

There are many benefits to self-reflection as a whole. For example, it can help you to improve your university grades by allowing you to learn from and more successfully absorb feedback and experiences.

As for your professional aspirations, self-reflection can help you to:

• analyse your past experiences to decide on a future career;
• understand what skills you have and how to prove these during the application process;
• appreciate how valuable your work is to show an employer during a review process.

How can I start my self-reflection?

As mentioned earlier, the best way to begin self-reflecting is to ask yourself questions.

Some good starting point questions are:

• Did you enjoy the experience? Why? Or why not?
• What did you do? Why did you do it?
• What worked well? What didn’t?
• What did you learn?
• What would you change?

We would suggest documenting your self-reflection to ensure you don’t forget any ideas that come to mind during. You might want to do this written down, in bullet points or a mind map, or simply out loud and record your thoughts in a voice memo.

Additional resources

 Make sure you give our Career Snapshots – Self-reflection video a watch before getting started and read through our Know your skills and Know your motivation webpages.

 Self-reflection is the perfect first step to planning your career which you can find more support with on our website.

As always, if you feel it would be beneficial to speak to someone about your professional objectives, you can book an appointment with one of our careers consultants.