I had a great conversation yesterday with my supervisor as we concluded my annual review. One of the goals I had set for myself was to set aside time for weekly reflection – a time where I could comment on the projects I was involved with. When we finally got to the goals, I had to admit that I didn’t succeed in that area. I had gone almost a full year without reflecting on my projects—And with the year I had, that’s a lot of projects! I spent a minute or two trying to figure out why I had neglected this goal:
- Was I too busy to make time?
- Did I not know what to say?
- Was I afraid of the negative content I might divulge and who would read it?
- Did I not know how to document the reflections (or if it should be documented at all)?
What I ended up realizing was that I just didn’t know how to document reflections. I could easily sit at my desk, zoning into oblivion, “thinking” about what I had done that week. The problem with that is that there is no “accountability.” Granted, I don’t want people judging my work by the weekly reflections, but I want to be able to keep myself accountable when it comes to critically analyzing my progress. Anyways…That’s where this site comes into play. I’ve been contemplating this site’s future for the last few months and I think I have just solved the mystery! Henceforth, this site will collect my weekly reflections for ongoing projects. Any and all clients that I’m directly with will have their names removed, although I may spill their department affiliation if it’s relevant to the project. I’ve also set a recurring event on my calendar to remind me to write my weekly reflections.For those of you that are really interested in personal events, check out Katie and I’s blog.If you want to follow my educational thoughts, I’ll be posting a link to a site in which I am a contributing author later this month.Cheers!
Matthew Evins 