Self-reflection

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Start by watching this quick overview before checking out the other links on this page.

Reflection is a process of examining ourselves, analysing what and why we did things and identifying what we learnt. You may have been asked to reflect on feedback that you’ve received from university work or practical work that you have done in a lab or workshop.  

In this section we’ll help you to learn how to reflect on what you’ve done in the past to help you decide on your career. After reading through the content on this page, be sure to check out our Know your skills and Know your motivation webpages.

Knowing how to self reflect can help you in a variety of situations including:

  • Improving your university grades by learning from feedback and experiences;
  • Helping you to analyse your past experiences to decide on a future career;
  • Understanding what skills you have and how to prove these during the application process;
  • Showing an employer how valuable your work is during a review process.

There is no one right way to reflect and you will find many theories and models that explain how to do it. You can find more about self-reflection in the Attributes and Aspirations online course. Most reflection theories are based on asking yourself a lot of questions about the event or experience you’re wanting to reflect on so you can figure out what you’ve learnt or what you might do differently next time.

Some good starting point questions are:

  • Did you enjoy it? Why? Or why not? ​
  • What did you do? Why did you do it?​
  • What worked well? What didn't work well?​
  • What did you learn? What would you change?

AI can also help you to reflect. Use prompts like 'Act as a reflection coach and help me reflect on...' or 'Interview me about X experience so I can reflect on it'.

Exactly what questions you ask yourself depends on why you are reflecting in the first place. With regards to your career choice and linking back into your Plan: Me the two main questions you will be reflecting on are: 

  1. Can I do this career? 
  2. Do I want to do this career? 

AI prompts like 'Based on this experience, what sort of jobs might I enjoy' or 'Help me understand what sort of experience tells me about the types of careers I might like' can also help focus your reflection more on your career.