Reflection, in my humble opinion, is something that's pretty important for us as humans. I'm not quite sure if I would call it an ability, tactic, or skill, but it's necessary for a lot of reasons—but for two that I can sum up into two general areas of thought. Plus, Mulan sang a song about it, so it has to be important, right?

It's easy to get caught up in the everyday motions of life. Whether it's because you had a busy and eventful Friday, or a long, time-consuming Monday. The trivial issues build up, and you might get down on yourself in certain situations. Reflecting is probably the best thing you could do at this point.

Within the past month or so, I was fortunate enough to get involved in an academic project. I'm going into my last semester of college in August, and while the project is starting to wrap up, it hit me how far I've come since I started at West Virginia University. I touched on it more in an article I wrote a while ago, but after my first semester, I was on academic probation. If I could go back in time to tell myself that four years later, I'd be working on a journalism project that would be published and have a current cumulative GPA of 3.19, I probably wouldn't have believed it.

Simultaneously, a lot has happened in my personal life within the past four years—some fantastic, some horrible, and some in between. I can also safely say that if I went back to those bad moments and told myself that everything would be OK, I probably wouldn't have believed it.

My takeaway here is that reflection is important for the trivial moments. When you're working on a project and you're frustrated because phrasing doesn't sound right and you're beating yourself up over it, just take a second to think about how far you've come in general. Will it help you find the right wording? No, not by any means. But it might boost your spirits and help you push further.

On the other hand, it's a practice that also helps you become the best version of yourself. You got to your current position in a lot of different ways, but you're human and I'm sure some mistakes were made.

Going back to the academic probation example: When it happened, I freaked out, but I knew it was all on me. I thought back on how I didn't apply myself like I was supposed to, but it's how you use that negative information that counts. Sure, you can beat yourself up over it, but that's not going to do anything except irritate you and bring your confidence down. Instead, switch it. Acknowledge that you messed up, but take what you did and turn it into a lesson. This turns into a wonderful thing called growth.

Taking all of this into consideration, just remember that when you're beating yourself up over a bad day or a mistake you made at work, that it's vital to boost your spirits again.

Pat yourself on the back, wipe the dust off, and keep going.