Looking inward and considering your own experience is another powerful tool to practice.
The act of self-reflection has several uses, but in terms of opportunity identification it is all about thinking about your own experience and knowledge. Self-reflection is important for you to do yourself as only you can recollect what memories and thoughts you have accumulated from a given experience. To utilise the self-reflection tool successfully, you need to be in the opportunity mindset and thinking about potential opportunities that you may have missed. Being actively aware of what you’re experiencing at a given time will help you become more efficient at self-reflection, increasing your chances to identify innovative opportunities.
ExampleOzHarvest food rescue
One business that came out of self-reflection is OzHarvest. The founder, Ronni Kahn, identified the opportunity while working as an events manager. She ran events for hundreds of people and often took home leftovers or saw them go to waste. After reflecting on this she realised that it probably wasn’t just something that was happening at the company she worked at.
After a bit of research she was more informed about the fact that 5.3 million tonnes of food is thrown out every year, costing Australia $20 billion annually. She reflected on her experiences and realised there was an opportunity to help people with the leftover food from commercial entities. OzHarvest is now one of Australia’s largest food rescue charities, collecting leftover food from commercial outlets and sharing it with over 1,000 charities.
Exercise your ability to reflect
You can reflect on any experience, no matter when it occurred or what type of experience it was. Things as simple as witnessing an argument on a bus or collaborating with a work college, to recollecting your entire childhood memories or high school experience. The value of self-reflection is that you’re looking back on a memory with a new perspective and context and likely to identify potential opportunities you previously missed.
Consider your commute
Next time you’re commuting from university to home, try and pay attention to the world around you and how you and others are experiencing their journey. When you get home reflect on your experience and observations and try and identify if there were any problems or opportunities that you could explore.
