In her book Tiny Experiments, Anne-Laure Le Cunff talks about the value of taking time for reflection. She emphasizes that learning and growth don’t come solely from experiences, but that, instead, learning and growth are the result of intentional reflection. Reflection is not about being self critical or overthinking. It’s time to notice patterns, to test assumptions, and to make decisions about what comes next. She emphasizes that reflection works best when it’s small and frequent, when the mindset is on learning (not “Did I succeed or fail?” but “What can I learn from what happened?”), and when the focus is on curiosity.
I loved this book. The chapter on reflection was particularly meaningful. As someone whose career has been focused on helping other learn, I typically include opportunities for reflection in the materials I create. I know that new learning is more likely to “stick” if the learners are given time to think about how it affects them and what they are going to do with the information or skills.
Recognizing the importance, I’ve long had a weekly schedule that included a block of time for reflection and planning at the start and end of each week. The intention was to look back, notice what had gone well and what hadn’t, and then look ahead at the coming week.
I kept it going for a while.
Lately, however, I’ve been skipping it. I had developed a whole process, but it was overly complicated (there was a spreadsheet involved), and the results weren’t very useful.
Le Cunff emphasizes that it doesn’t have to be complicated at all. In fact, a simple tool can be incredibly effective. She developed what she calls the “Plus, Minus, Next,” and it only requires a few minutes each week.
- Plus – What worked well?
- Minus – What didn’t work?
- Next – What will I try differently next time?
I started using these prompts in my journal each week and really liked the ease of it.
I did notice, however, that doing the reflection in my journal meant the “Next” part was out of sight, and when I finally looked back at the pages, I realized I had written the same thing for what I wanted to do differently several weeks in a row without actually making any changes.
I’m also on a continual hunt for a good visual way to plan my weeks, to know what buckets of work are being done when. I’ve gone back and forth between various paper and digital tools. Currently, I want something on paper so I can scribble and cross out and have it hanging on the wall next to my desk where it’s always in sight.
I put the two ideas together and came up with this reflection tool. The one twist is that the “Next” for each week becomes the first thing I write on the page for the new week. This way, those ideas are also right in front of me and aren’t forgotten.
Currently, I have several printed copies hanging in a clipboard to the right of my desk, ready to use. I take some time first thing on Monday morning before my work starts to fill it out. So far, I’m really liking how it’s working.
I’m making it my next “tiny experiment” to use it every week for the next four weeks and then to evaluate how it’s going.
