I recently read a post on LinkedIn that was recommended by Bill Gates -- yeah, that Bill Gates. The article is written by Harry Shum, a computer scientist by trade and the Executive Vice President of Artificial Intelligence & Research at Microsoft. The article titled, You are What you Write, discusses how computer scientist and every day joe's prepare themselves for a more meaningful day, presentation, and career by performing in-depth reflection of their daily activities, projects, prior conversations, etc. which allow the individual to gain a better understanding of the subject matter. Eventually, through intentional and consistent reflection a person can gain a deeper understanding of themselves through the material and content that is consumed.
The article was insightful. It focused on how a programmer may program an app but the real learning and progress occurs when the individuals performs the self-reflection on the project. That is when they are able to understand the choices made and created output. Through this exercise of examination a person can determine better ways to perform the routine tasks and how to tackle new challenges in the future.
Bill echoed Harry's sentiments and both spoke candidly about their own experience with in-depth reflection and how it made them better programmers, leaders, and humans in their careers. I found the article to have great insightful and pockets of motivation.
