Dean of Studies
Reflection: The Pause That Brings Peace and Productivity
A study by Joseph Badaracco, Professor of Business Ethics at Harvard Business School, and author of Step Back: How to Bring the Art of Reflection into Your Busy Life. In the study, over 100 managers in fifteen countries were interviewed, with the aim of learning how busy people find time for reflection. Many of us are conscious of the time-pressures, the lure of our smartphones and access to electronic devices in order to stay on top of responsibilities, and to live in an ‘always connected world’. The end of the school year provides our students (and staff) with the opportunity to find time for quiet and reflection.
According to Professor Badaracco, the opportunity to reflect provides the chance to pause, to figure out what matters, what is important and guides the next steps that we may choose to make. In the study Badaracco found that almost all of the managers do reflect, but they don’t necessarily rely on long periods of solitude. Instead, his findings were that to practice the art of reflection, they participants used the “the cracks and crevices of their everyday lives” to help them make better decisions, one day at a time and one problem at a time. As a result, Professor Badaracco recommends four design principles for reflection, which includes:
1: Aim for good enough. In contrast to strict discipline, rigid schedules, or abandoning all other tasks to overcome obstacles, we are advised to let go of the idea that reflection must be time-consuming or perfect. Perhaps a viewing of the school report requires a “good enough” reflection, followed by the setting over the break of realistic and timely goals for the following school year?
This reflection can include meaningful conversations with the people you trust, and the kind of person that can be hoenst and direct with you.
2: Downshift occasionally. This is traditionally known as contemplation, or downshifting from time to time. This requires you to put the pace of your thoughts into a lower gear, let go of focus and resist the urge to feel a need to be always productive or decisive. Furthermore, let your thoughts meander for a time, take a physical break from the regular environment and take the time to think about your goals and dreams, reflect on your accomplishments and to consider what you are grateful for.
3: Ponder your hard issues. This means stepping back and consciously looking at a problem from a variety of perspectives. Imagine the consequences of choosing between different options, look at a problem from the perspective of someone else (a teacher, coach, mentor or an admired adult)
4: Pause and measure up. This requires you to take a few moments to step back and ask yourself which option is best in terms of the standards that others expect you to meet and the standards you have set for yourself. In order to achieve your goals, what marks, grades or standards (I.e. Benchmarks) exist, and what are your personal goals and standards that you have set for yourself?
This approach also requires a future focus – being honest with yourself about the outcome or result to achieve, and the level of satisfaction that will come with this achievement.
Reflection promotes growth. The ultimate outcome accoding to Badaracco is to enhance enhance your life and your work. “Without reflection, we drift,” Badaracco says. ”Others shape and direct us. With reflection, we can understand and even bend the trajectories of our lives.”
May the Christmas break be a time for thoughtful pause and reflection and an opportunity to establish new goals for 2021.
[1] (27/07/2020 Dina Gerdeman is a senior writer at Harvard Business School Working Knowledge.
https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-pause-that-brings-peace-and-productivity
College Achievements - Term Four
At the final College Assembly for 2020, a number of students were presented with awards for the following:
- Presentation Night Awards (Year 7 – 9)
- Australian Mathematics Competition
- Australian Problem-Solving Mathematics Olympiad
- Australian Geography Competition
- Academic Excellence Program – Tournament of Minds
If your son or daughter did not receive either their award of certificate, please contact the College and we will arrange for this to be collected.
The tradition at the College is to invite Year Twelve students from the previous year to be presented with their ’95 Club’ recognition or School Curriculum and Standards Authority awards at the Opening College Assembly of 2021. In addition to this, the Year Twelve award recipients from the Presentation Night will be invited to be presented with their awards.
Mr R Dowling
(Dean of Studies)