I think that to some extent everyone uses reflective practice in their everyday lives, they just don't call it that. I am one of natures worriers and I know that I spend ages analysing what went wrong if I had a bad day, in the hopes of avoiding a repeat.
The main way that I use reflective practice in a work capacity is with job interviews. Over the last few years I have been to a lot of interviews and I think that even when I haven't got the job I have managed to take away something from the experience. This gives me something to work on or repeat and is a good way of honing my skills. I also use it when I get the marks back from a previous assignment by thinking about the things I may have done differently in light of the comments that I received.
Undertaking reflective practice can be very rewarding but I definitely agree with the point about it being a hard thing to make time for. There are some days when the last thing I want to do is think about my work day when I get home. I think that reflective practice works best when you are in the mood for it - it's best not to do it when you are feeling frazzled as you will never get a clear picture.
I am going to Umbrella 2011 tomorrow and I have a feeling that this will be a good chance to practice being reflective. Hopefully I will learn a lot and meet lots of new people which will give me much to think about. I'll be writing an article about my experiences so this will be a good chance to reflect on my experiences.
Blogging is a great outlet for reflective practice. It provides a way to condense your thoughts and share them with other people who can also give you feedback. This is one of the best uses of blogs and I find that a lot of the librarian blogs that I follow use it to some extent. I hope that in the future I can use this blog a lot more for professional reflection.
(Image credit: Dead Habits)
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