Reflecting

Hi, and welcome to the retreat, I am so excited about this, I've been wanting to host an in person retreat for a long time. And sadly due to COVID-19, that's not going to be possible this year. But someone who was planning to come, so thank you, you know who you are... someone who was planning to come along to that asked if I would still be willing to do something similar that can bring the same sorts of benefits, but from the comfort of your own home. And so here we are, this is the Re:Treat.

It's a treat to you from the comfort of your own home or your local area, depending on where you decide to spend time for the next few days. And the reason that it's a Re:Treat is that each of the three days will have a different focus. And each of those areas of focus begins with Re. So we have the first day, which is about reflecting; the second day, which is about recharging; and the final day, which is about replanning. So you'll probably notice with those that the first day is a little bit about looking towards the past to reflect on what's happened; recharging is about reconnecting with who you really are now, so that's about the present; and the replanning is looking towards the future, and starting to think about what you would like to change or the things that you would like to make sure that you're prioritising in your future life.

So this is the video for day one. So it's where we start to look at reflecting. And for that there are a series of templates that you might be interested in using to support you with that.

The first is the reflective learning cycle. And for those of you who've done any sort of reflective practice or any qualification that has involved some sort of formal reflecting, you may well be familiar with Rolfe's reflective learning cycle. And it's a very, very simplistic model, as you'll see from the templates, and it basically talks you through. The "What?" so something that happens, so it could be something formal like a qualification, or it could be an experience, it could be something that you learn something from anything, anything at all. So the "What?" is what that thing was about? Then you have the "So what?", what does it mean? What's the importance of it? Which bits of it are you taking something from? And what does it mean to you personally? And then the "Now what?", which is when you start to think about, you know what, what has changed as a result of that? What will you do differently as a result of that? So that's one tool that you might want to use for highlights or things that you've learned from that you'd like to kind of reflect a little bit deeper onto specific things that have happened or that you've been part of that you've participated in specific moments.

And then there's also three different sheets, whether one for long-term reflecting, one for medium-term reflecting and one for short-term reflecting. So the short-term one focuses on sort of recent experiences, the medium one, obviously a little bit longer term, so maybe the last sort of year or so. And pick the timescale that feels right for you, don't be too restricted by that. And then longer term, which is when we start to think about our life journey, our story. And one thing that can be really helpful there is to kind of think about the journey that you've been through, and what's similar, and what stays the same and stays fairly constant throughout that, and what changes. So they're probably sort of pivotal moments in your life. And it's sometimes helpful to kind of reflect on those, and see how they've changed the direction of your life journey. And there will also be some common themes. When I first did this exercise, it really helped me realise that I used to love a magazine called Quizkids when I was younger, I don't know if anyone remembers Quizkids, it was a puzzle book. And then I used to love doing puzzles. And I've always quite liked sort of games and board games, card games, anything like that. And that's kind of been a common theme throughout my life is that I enjoy problem solving. I like having a challenge to kind of unpick or solve and feel a real sense of achievement when I've completed that puzzle or whatever it might be. And so that kind of reminds me that that's something that's important to me, outside of work, but it also gets me thinking about how I can bring that into my working life as well. And so that's why I really enjoy sometimes getting into the kind of like meaty problems, and helping people with that. So it can be really helpful to look at your story, your journey, and over the long term. And so that's one of the tools that you might want to use on as part of that as well.

And then the final thing that I'd like you to think about is including other people. So as part of the reflection, there will be people that you have supported, or people that have supported you or people who you class as peers who have maybe worked with you on something, helped you with something, and this is an opportunity to reach out to them and get some feedback on what they value, what works really well and get their perspective and to help you reflect and to help with a sort of collaborative reflection as well. And so if you wish to include other people, whether that's through conversation, or whether you want to sort of pose some questions to them, whatever that might be. And then that's also an opportunity for you to kind of do that.

And as with any of these, if you want to print out the resources, and complete them, feel free to do that, if you want to have a look at them, take some inspiration from them, and then go away and do something different with them. That's cool, too.

If you'd like to work on independently or with other people, we'll discuss that when we check in. And there might be certain bits of it that you'd really like to do a little bit more depth. And you might want to kind of talk to someone else who's doing the Re:Treat about that specific thing. And so we'll we'll discuss that in the check in but those are some suggestions and ideas.

And I'd also love to encourage you to think about what has worked for you. What would you like to reflect on? And what tools, techniques and what different spaces have you been to that help you reflect? How can you maximise your reflecting for today? So have a little think about that, get some ideas down together and then bring those to the check in and we will discuss how you would like to make the most of this time that you're focusing on reflection as part of the Re:Treat. So thank you so much for listening, and I will see you soon and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on what you would like to do to help you with your reflection.