1.4 Reflective thinking and practice – reflective thinking in everyday life transcript

You were late to work.

You were late to work because you missed the train. You reflect on why you missed the train and realise it’s because you didn’t give yourself enough time to walk to the station. You decide to leave five minutes earlier the following day.

You go on holiday, but you end up staying far away from the centre of town.

You reflect and realise that this is because you left it to the last minute to book accommodation, and there weren’t any vacancies in town. You decide to book your accommodation in advance next time.

You burnt your toast.

You reflect, and realise the toast burnt because the cooking setting is too high. You turn it down, so that next time your bread will be toasted to your liking.

You host a party for a friend and it’s a huge success.

Lots of people at the party ask how you planned such a great event. This prompts you to reflect on the steps you took to organise the party and make sure it would be fun and everything would run smoothly. You decide to replicate the process the next time you plan an event.

You receive a low mark on an important exam.

You review the exam paper to see where you went wrong. You realise that you didn’t read the instructions properly and therefore answered the question incorrectly.  You make a mental note to read the instructions very carefully next time.

You keep a journal

You reflect on what’s happening in your life and how you feel, and you write it down. You might read back over old entries later down the line and reflect on how you felt back then and how things are different now.

You’ve done one of those ‘personality type’ tests.

The test asked you questions which required you to reflect on your personality traits, your habits, and possibly your preferences.

You’re in a bad mood when you meet up with a friend.

Your friend notices you’re not in a good mood and asks you what’s wrong. When you start reflecting on the question, you realise you have a list of things that have been upsetting you recently. You and your friend chat about them and talk about possible solutions.