Reflection Speeds Up the Learning Curve.

Edition - 009

Welcome to The Obsession, glad you’re here.

Reflection is essential if you want to get where you want to go.

The brutal truth is: not many people are going to consistently tell you what to do to get better. They’re not going to coach you, give you feedback, or show you how to win. Most of the time, you have to find your own way.

That’s why reflection has become one of the most important habits I’ve built over the last year.

I use journaling to do it. There are a lot of ways to reflect, but writing things down on paper forces me to slow down and get honest. It gives the whole thing structure.

I want to cover three things:

1. Why reflection matters

2. What I’m writing down

3. How I actually act on it

Why reflection matters

In my mind, there are two actions that make a person better at anything:

• Repetition (volume)

• Reflection (feedback)

Most people understand volume. They’ll grind workouts. They’ll take more meetings. They’ll do more reps. But if you’re doing volume without reflection, you’re just repeating the same mistakes.

Reflection is self coaching. It’s how you learn what to do differently, better, or more of. My goal is simple: speed up the learning curve so I can stay on a consistent line of improvement.

But here’s the catch: reflection is just you giving yourself feedback, and that’s not as easy as it sounds.

The hardest part is being honest without justifying everything. You can’t sit there and explain away what happened. You’re not reflecting to defend yourself. You’re reflecting to learn.

For me, the easiest way to do that is to reflect later, later in the day or later in the week, when the emotions have died down and I can look at it with a clearer lens.

What I write down

Like I said, I journal because it forces me to think and process what I’m reflecting on.

It’s work, marriage, faith, friendships, emotions, goals, hobbies, fitness, whatever is real that day or week.

I don’t overcomplicate it. I stick to what I’m feeling and what actually happened.

But the key is this: every entry ends with an action item.

Something I can do differently going forward. A small adjustment. A reminder. A decision.

Because nothing changes if nothing changes.

How I act on it

That last action item is the whole point. It’s the bridge between reflection and progress.

Here’s how I use it:

• I write the action item at the end

• I highlight it

• I come back to it later as a reminder

Then every couple of weeks, I go back and reread old entries.

Not to be dramatic, just to see patterns.

How was I thinking a few weeks ago?
What was stressing me out?
What was I avoiding?
What did I say I was going to change?

That rereading process has been extremely actionable for me. It’s helped change my perspective, and honestly it’s helped me accomplish goals faster because I’m not guessing. I’m paying attention.

The Weekly 3

1) One Question I Asked Myself

Where am I doing volume without feedback?

2) One Idea That Shifted Me

Reps make you tired. Reflection makes you better.

3) One Challenge to Take Into Your Week

For the next 7 days, write one quick entry at the end of the day:

• What happened today?

• What did I learn?

• What’s one action I’ll take tomorrow?

Keep it short. The power is in consistency.