RWDevCon 2017 Keynote: Reflect and Refactor by Marin Todorov

Reflect

The first step is to periodically take some time to reflect.

You might be thinking that self-reflection is something like a yearly job review where you sit down and look at how to do things better or faster, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Self-reflection is different.

To self-reflect, you should not look into how to do things better or faster, but instead look into how you feel, what you need and why. It’s all about you, not about what other people tell you.

For example, maybe you’ve been maintaining an open source library for a while. Instead of thinking how you can do better at that, ask yourself: “Is this still fun? Does it still give me anything, or has it become a chore and a source of stress?”

Another trick is to build a current image of yourself right now, a mental image, and compare it with the last time you thought about yourself. Are you doing things differently right now? Maybe you have a new perception about how and where you stand. Are you older? Probably. Maybe you learned or experienced something new. Do you see the world or yourself in a different light than you used to?

For example, maybe you’ve always loved the meals of your childhood. Butter fried chicken, pork chops and more. Those certainly have been yummy! However, as you age you might need to reflect on your health and align your diet to your body’s new needs.

All of this takes time. You can’t self-reflect in your lunch break or between meetings. You need a relaxed mind and a little bit of space. Personally, I like traveling in the train, sipping coffee, maybe crossing the Alps.

The key is to carve out some specific time to do some self-reflection and be okay with the fact that it’s going to take a while. Eventually you’ll discover whether you’re still aligned with your inner self, your previous self, or whether something has changed, and you now have different dreams than before.

Refactor

Once you’ve had a chance to reflect, the next step is to refactor.

Have Your Dreams Changed?

If you found that your dreams have changed, the best way to refactor is to answer three questions:

For example, if you’ve felt like just an assistant in the office for a couple of years, but in fact you launched the last two projects on your own, maybe it’s time to think of yourself in a different, more capable light.

In my case, I’d been expecting myself to always pull off immense amounts of work, help the family, do open source and so forth, but an adjustment was due in order to be able to get back on track.

For example, if you’ve just paid off your student loans, is buying a house something you would like to do next?

1. Old Dreams: Do you have any old dreams that you want to completely discard, or some perceptions that are not valid anymore?

For example, if you’ve felt like just an assistant in the office for a couple of years, but in fact you launched the last two projects on your own, maybe it’s time to think of yourself in a different, more capable light.

2. Expectations: Do you have any expectations of yourself that you need to adjust?

In my case, I’d been expecting myself to always pull off immense amounts of work, help the family, do open source and so forth, but an adjustment was due in order to be able to get back on track.

3. New Dreams: Are there any completely new dreams that you might want to take up?

For example, if you’ve just paid off your student loans, is buying a house something you would like to do next?

Hero’s Journey

You might be wondering: when is the best time for self-reflection? In movies or books, it’s easy to tell. The hero starts from modest origins, meets a mentor and goes on a ton of adventures over the arc of the story. Once the battle is over, the big revelation happens and they’re brought to a higher state of consciousness. By default, they reflect and refactor.

Unfortunately, our lives are not stories from books or movies. There is no single battle and the Gates of Mordor, where after the battle we sit down, light up a pipe and reflect. Instead, there are millions of stories with their own little arcs in our lives.

We do, however, all have moments in our lives that give us a built-in opportunity to reflect and refactor.

For a number of people I spoke to, such a moment was finishing their studies; after a bachelor’s or master’s degree, they realized they had completely different dreams than when they started, and completely different expectations of themselves. After multiple years of study and tons of new information gained, many of them began working on something completely different.

Another great moment to reflect and refactor is if you’re moving on to a different stage in your career. If you’ve been a junior developer for a while and now you’re taking a leadership position, it’s a really good moment to think of who you’ve become and what could be next for you.

Even if you don’t stumble upon one of these natural moments to reflect and refactor, it’s important to periodically take a bit of time and listen to your inner self.

Make the time to reflect.

Make the time to reflect.

For example, you could head to the spa and reflect while you’re getting a massage or soaking in a hot tub. Take a weekend trip and reflect along the way, or head to a museum and reflect among the paintings. The important thing is to make time for reflection.

When we reflect on our lives, we tell a story about ourselves to ourselves. We build a character in our minds, that person we perceive ourselves to be, and that character, our hero, gets transformed each day, little by little.

In my story, I was seeing myself as the hero who could manage all this work and support the family, all while dealing with grief, so to say, on the fly. I didn’t notice that a lot of things had changed and that I wasn’t exactly that person anymore.