The end of the year brings with it many “Best Of” and “Top 10” lists of the accomplishments of the past twelve months. Additionally, there are a whole host of “Predictions” for the next year. These articles and programs seem to fill a void in all of the magazines and media outlets that want to distribute content when everyone would rather be on vacation.
Finding time to reflect upon lessons learned helps our minds and bodies take the various disconnected facts that we have learned and synthesize them to create new memories and patterns in our brain. There is an on-going conversion back and forth between tacit and explicit knowledge.
Taking time to unplug or relax or meditate is even harder than ever in today’s connected society. It is only through reflection and setting objectives that new habits can be created. If we set an objective to “Climb Mount Everest”, it automatically establishes a theme for all of the smaller steps that must be accomplished to support the primary goal.
As part of our efforts to help build a “Career Culture”, students need to use this same process. Maybe you did just have “the worst class ever” or “impossible group project”. What was it about the class that made it so challenging? Was it hard to stay motivated in a part-time job that you only did to earn some cash? Throughout your internship or co-op, what did you learn about corporate culture? What teams were you a part of that made the work go better? Worse? Have you been exposed to project management systems that made you more confident about your work?
Since there is a never a good time to reflect, relax, and rejuvenate, let’s make this part of our year-end tradition!