The art of decelerating: Finding time to reflect, be grounded and learn

I have been trying to write this article for ages – but I’ve struggled to find the headspace to give it the consideration it deserves. Which is ironic, given it’s an examination of the need to step back, tune out, and reflect on the important things and what we can learn from them.

In a world where technology enables us to constantly accelerate, where we are expected to process indigestible amounts of data, learn quickly, make fast decisions and take immediate action, we can fail to consider the ultimate outcomes. We’re programmed to learn by doing, but that ignores our emotional education. Not all insight is rational. When we consider our emotional experience of an event, how we feel when we remember it, we can often understand it better and evolve our behaviours.

In the rush to achieve, many of us – me included – are overlooking this key element necessary for growth and learning. Much is said about the need for reflection, but so little is really done to enable it. We’re always on to the next thing, preventing us from pulling back and looking at how we’re living and working. Constant activity is a drug that takes us away from critical thinking. Our perception is dulled by busyness, while any downtime we have might be filled with mind-numbing rather than mindful activities.

Reflecting on reflection

The goal of reflection is not an unproductive, Zen-like state in which we detach ourselves from the world. There are real tangible benefits to actively reflecting on our work and non-working lives. By stopping and resting, and avoiding burnout, we make ourselves more efficient when we are being productive. It also gives us the opportunity to evaluate our actions. Checking in to track ourselves against our goals ensures we’re on the right path, and not being distracted by irrelevant issues. It also allows us to revise our plans if they’re not working.

Similarly, it can be hard to resolve issues when you’re in the thick of them. Reflection encourages problem solving by giving us headspace to find alternative approaches and solutions. We learn from our mistakes when we stop to consider how we might have done things differently. Conversely, stopping to celebrate our successes is energising and makes them more meaningful.

And it’s not only about looking back. Reflection lets us sense-check our next steps, map out our route, reaffirm why we’re going there, consider alternative destinations, and understand what it takes to reach them.

And finally, decelerating is a vital step towards living in the moment. If you stop being a slave to the to-do list, you get to appreciate the life that is happening right now.

How to reflect

I admit I’m still striving to find my own route to reflectiveness, and I’m not offering anyone a recipe for enlightenment. I can only extoll the intent to slow down and examine more than just the immediate. Below are the strategies that are helping me, and if one of them works for you, it may be a step towards to bringing more balance into your life.

Practice reflecting: My mentor asked me recently, “How do you reflect?” We all have different ways to reach a state of reflection, to re-examine our thoughts and conclusions, and once we work our method out, we can exercise our reflective muscles, training our brains to stop and consider so that it becomes part of our daily process.

Get your thoughts out: As an extrovert, my ideas tend to form through interaction with others, so I connect in order to reflect. If no one’s available, I write things down. By capturing ideas as they occur, I can revisit them when I have headspace to consider them, and they can land where they’re meant to. Or, if they’re bad ideas, I can let them go without needing to dwell on them.

Move to slow down: It’s difficult to be creative when sitting immobile in front of a screen. I find it easier to reflect while moving. Whether you prefer to run or walk, swim or cycle, the trance state exercise creates allows for idea creation by making it possible to think in a linear way, untroubled by the immediate stresses of everyday life. This is the practice of linking our body to our brains, and we are often at our best when they’re working together.

Take a broader view: We don’t just need to stop and reflect on our individual actions and internal reactions. We should also consider the impact we have on others as leaders and as members of teams, and on wider society and our planet. I find shifting the focus away from myself can make reflecting easier.

The struggle to create a state of reflection is often one of time management versus energy management. It can feel as though, with everything we need to get done, we don’t have time to husband our energy through contemplation. But if we don’t take that time, we won’t have the energy to do what needs to get done.

I intended the biggest gift I’d give myself this year would be the chance to decelerate. I wanted to take reflection more seriously in order to achieve greater depth, and greater availability, in my work and my life. It turns out it’s harder than I thought, but I still believe that building a habit of reflection is one of the most important things I can do to support and empower myself.?