SELF REFLECTION
Introspection becomes vitally important in our social media echo chamber and we need to constantly question our biases
THERE’S A PLAQUE that President Obama had on his desk in the oval office. It read, “Hard things are hard.” Indeed, we avoid self-reflection even though it’s good for us simply because it’s a difficult activity which requires a lot of personal honesty. At its core, self-reflection is a fight with conceits that define our own self-image.
Consider how Donald Trump and Boris Johnson downplayed concerns about covid-19, displaying unwarranted bravado while undermining calls to wear face-masks or socially distance against warnings
from their scientists. Here we are, over 700,000 deaths in the UK and US later because they didn’t have the wherewithal to question their intellectual shortcomings. In the end, it was a blame game: Obama, China, “demented Chinese medicine”, anyone but themselves.
We have become accustomed to looking at the world and seeing people and circumstances to blame for “ruining” your life. In fact, if you were asked to make a list of everything that has gone wrong in your life and who’s responsible for it, chances are: you might not even make it to the top five. And yet, self-reflection is not self-flagellation. The kind of reflection that is really valuable to true leaders is nuanced: it involves the conscious consideration and analysis of beliefs and actions for the purpose of learning.
It’s our ability to take stock of chaos, so out the variables that were in our control and what weren’t, consider the experiences and make quantitative interpretations in order to make highly informed decisions.
Approached in the right light, the process can lead to valuable insights and even breakthroughs. The opposite is possible too, some become so defensive in the process that they don’t learn anything, hence it’s impo ant to nu ure relationships with people who disagree with you. Ultimately, rather than create a false sense of invincibility that actually harms yourself (or worse, others), a complex and unce ain world demands constant learning and mental agility. Those with the necessary humility and courage will ultimately achieve their fullest potential while helping others reach theirs.