In a fast-paced society where reflective thinking is not top of mind, most people would instead act than think. Now, don’t get me wrong. We should all be a person of action. We should all enjoy seeing things accomplished. But at the same time, we should all become reflective thinkers and embrace the benefits of reflection.
When I think about how EOS recommends scheduling a clarity break to its practitioners, I am reminded of this school of thought called reflective thinking.
A clarity break is a regularly scheduled appointment on your calendar with yourself. It’s up to you. But the doing of it is what matters. During this time, you should find a place to meet with yourself and take a journal with you. It could be any place where you can be alone and uninterrupted. Even EOS founder Gino Wickman finds a Starbucks near his home.
Now, how does it tie with reflective thinking?
The clarity break allows us to practice that.
As we go through this process, the goal is to reflect so that we might learn from our successes and mistakes, discover what we should try to repeat, and determine what to change for the benefit of the business. By mentally visiting past situations, we can think with greater understanding. More than ever, it helps us zero in on what truly matters.
To top it off, here are the things clarity break and reflective thinking do to help us focus on the business:
It Gives Us True Perspective
According to Greek philosopher Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Carving out time for reflection helps us examine not just ourselves but the experiences that we had. When we practice reflective thinking, it leads us to put our experience into perspective and evaluate its timing. We might take some experiences for granted and fail to reflect on them unless prompted. But the clarity break allows us to process our experiences better, ask the right questions, and mine gold from our thinking.
It Improves Decision-Making Skills
Reflective thinking increases one’s confidence in decision-making, as per leadership guru John Maxwell. Even leaders have a moment of self-doubt. It comes from wondering whether a snap judgment made was the right thing or not. But having clarity from previous decisions could diffuse that doubt.
In reflective thinking, the goal is to create mental roadmaps to solve an issue so we won’t have to repeat going through the same process of finding a resolution again. Not only does it speed up thinking time and processing decisions, but it also gives us more confidence to approach conflict, and it strengthens our intuition.
It Clarifies the Big Picture
Setting aside time for reflection through a clarity break helps us see the big picture. When we engage in reflective thinking, we can put our ideas into a more accurate context. The clarity break encourages us to step back and spend time pondering what we have done and what could still be done to develop our organization.
Dick Biggs suggested a system to help us organize our thoughts on paper while reflecting on the bigger picture. He recommends creating three columns with the following: Year – Turning Point – Impact. In the EOS setting, this could very well translate to Quarter – Turning Point – Impact. Or I must say, Rocks – Significance – Action Point. Either way, this system could help us define our goals for the bigger picture during our time of reflection.
How to embrace these lessons?
Ultimately, engaging in reflective thinking provides the right perspective, counsel, insights, and direction we need for the future. It clears the path for growth and paves the way to accomplishing more goals, thus, clarity.
When you are in a company run by EOS, clarity break is a privilege. It allows us to grab the opportunity to remove ourselves from distraction for short blocks of time.
Even if this type of privilege is unavailable, do not hesitate to spend time reflecting on your business or career growth. After all, nothing could firmly cement any learning like action.
