R- Reality
Often it’s at this stage that the learner begins to consider themselves, where they are currently, what strengths and weaknesses they hold and how does the reality of the task compare to the beliefs that they held before starting the process. This inner understanding of their reality helps them to understand that they are not infallible and helps to balance out individual optimism bias, where we believe that bad things will not happen to us. An understanding of where we are, where we have failed, what we have learned and what we still need to learn enables us to understand that we are capable of failing and learning in the future.
Questions for Reality:
- Where are you currently?
- What skills do you already have?
- What skills do you need to develop?
- What skills don’t you have?
- What are your thoughts on this?
- How do you feel about this?
- On a scale of 0-10, where are you currently?
- What have you achieved that is similar?
- Are you capable of achieving this right now?
- What is it that you are not capable of doing currently?
A sense of reality, and a specific goal provides meaning and context for development. A driver who is used to considering their strengths, weaknesses and limitations around skills, beliefs, attitudes and emotions is more likely to make better choices post-test. This is all about developing evaluation and self-evaluation skills.