4 work reflection questions to help you be more productive

Work reflection gives you a chance to identify your strengths and weaknesses and devise plans to improve yourself. Reflecting on what you have achieved at work so far will help you identify the areas where you excel and where you fall short. It will also assist you in determining how to do things differently the next time to be more efficient. Work reflection allows you to learn from your mistakes. It will help you become more confident in what you do and promote your professional growth. Here are four questions to ask yourself during work reflection:

What career goals have I accomplished this year?

At the end of every twelve months at your job (or even one month, if it suits you), look back on your career goals and see how far you have come within the year. Did you know that completing an annual career review can help you do this easily? It will help you track your wins and progress while letting you know which areas to focus on for growth and development. Here’s what you can do:

• Update your accomplishments and wins on your master resume every year
• Celebrate the promotion you earned or the degree you just got
• Update your resume once every few months
• Get feedback from your supervisor
• Be eager to learn from your performance review

Did I improve or gain any skills this year?

If you want to get ahead in the career race, you must always keep your skills sharp. Always keep learning new things to help you perform better at your job. Once in a while, take the time to polish up on the skills that you feel you are losing touch with. Make a list of the skills you improved this year and the new skills that you gained. Have you participated in additional training programs? Did you quit work to go back to school? Or did you brush up on your data analysis skills?

What’s the one thing that happened this year that would go back and change if I could?

We talked a lot about the progress you made and the impressive things you achieved. However, the mistakes you made the previous year too are important for your work reflection. Was there a situation that you let escalate without using the right conflict-resolution skills? Did you have trouble dealing with a difficult coworker? These are valuable learning experiences for your career in the future.

Was I happy in my job this year?

Having a successful work year is not enough if you were not happy while all the good things happened in your career. A work reflection can help you identify whether you are genuinely happy doing what you do for a living. Do you feel that you had a good work-life balance in the last year? Did your employer provide you with work flexibility options when you had to deal with a personal situation? If you realize that you have not been truly happy in your job for a while, you might want to take some time to think about it relaxedly. Assess your career values and see if this job is taking you where you want to go.