Why Reflection Is a Performance Tool

Research & Sources / Personal & Career Development

An old story tells of two woodcutters. One chops all day without stopping. The other stops every hour for a few minutes. At the end of the day, the second has cut far more wood. The first asks how, since he never rested. The answer: “I wasn’t resting. I was sharpening my axe.” Reflection is sharpening the axe.

Busy people skip it

High performers are usually busy. There is always another task, another meeting, another message. Stopping to think about what happened feels like a luxury they cannot afford. So they keep chopping with a blunter and blunter axe.

What research found

Giada Di Stefano, Francesca Gino, Gary Pisano and Bradley Staats studied what happens when people take time to reflect. In a study at a business process outsourcing company, new employees who spent the last 15 minutes of each training day writing about what they had learned did better in the final test than colleagues who used those minutes to keep working.¹

Fifteen minutes of thinking beat fifteen minutes of doing. The researchers suggest that once you have some experience with a task, reflecting on it can be worth more than simply doing more of it.

Anders Ericsson’s research on expertise shows the same principle: people improve fastest through deliberate practice, which means looking closely at mistakes and correcting them, not just repeating the task.²

Why reflection works

It turns experience into lessons. Without reflection, experience is just a list of events.

It reveals patterns. The same problem appearing in three different projects is easy to miss in the moment and obvious when you look back.

It builds confidence. Seeing clearly what you did well makes it repeatable.

It frees the mind. E. J. Masicampo and Roy Baumeister found that unfinished goals keep pulling at our attention, and that making a concrete plan for them reduces this pull.³ Reflection often ends with exactly such a plan.

A 15-minute habit

At the end of each day or week, write answers to three questions:

• What worked today, and why?
• What didn’t, and what would I do differently?
• What is the one thing I want to remember?

Write, don’t just think. Writing forces clarity. Keep it short; consistency matters more than length.

Reflection with someone else

Reflecting with a thinking partner adds another layer, because they notice what you skip. Coaching research shows strong effects on goal-directed self-regulation, the ability to observe and steer your own progress.⁴

What this means for you this week

• Book 15 minutes at the end of three working days.
• Answer the three questions in writing each time.
• On Friday, read all three entries and look for one pattern.
• Turn that pattern into one change for next week.

The trees will still be there in fifteen minutes. A sharp axe cuts them faster.

Sources

1. Di Stefano, G., Gino, F., Pisano, G. P. & Staats, B. R. Making Experience Count: The Role of Reflection in Individual Learning. HEC Paris / Harvard Business School working paper. ebslgwp.hhs.seEmployees who spent 15 minutes at the end of the day reflecting on what they learned performed better than those who kept working. The full paper is also on SSRN (abstract 2414478).
2. Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T. & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363-406. doi.orgExpert performance grows through deliberate practice: focused work on specific weaknesses with feedback.
3. Masicampo, E. J. & Baumeister, R. F. (2011). Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(4), 667-683. doi.orgUnfinished goals keep pulling at our attention; making a specific plan for them reduces that effect.
4. Theeboom, T., Beersma, B. & van Vianen, A. E. M. (2014). Does coaching work? A meta-analysis. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(1), 1-18. doi.orgCoaching improves performance, well-being, coping, work attitudes and goal-directed self-regulation.