Month: May 2020

Step 2: After rewatching the minilecture, create a blog post where you write out brief answers (3-4 sentences each) to the four questions in the introspection exercise I recommended that you ask yourself on a monthly basis. If you don’t know the answers to these questions right away, that’s okay. I just want you to do your best and respond as honestly as you can. The value of this exercise is almost more in the asking than it is in the answering:

1. What am I good at?

I’m good at organization. I take charge and work hard, and control/hide my emotions well. I am good at being a leader, and also good at standing up for myself and others. I can be both a follower and leader, although I am more comfortable being in charge.

2. What do I value?

I value honesty, determination, and loyalty. If you work hard and keep me in the loop I have a great amount of respect for you. I value leaders who understand the importance of teamwork. I also value people who have goals and aspirations and who hold themselves accountable.

3. How did I get here?

Both my parents have worked incredibly hard to get where they are, so I believe I get my drive from them. I also have a great amount of organization because of my mom, and have learned to communicate well from my dad. I am the oldest sibling in my family, so I believe that is why I have a take charge attitude, and am an effective leader. I also have always had friends who have pushed me to think critically, and not just follow blindly.

4. Where am I going?

Somewhere. I’d like to think I will have many opportunities throughout my life, however I understand that I only really need one or two. So, I don’t really care what the destination is and more lean towards what I get to do and learn in the process. I’ve always wanted to be a project manager, however I have also thought about other management positions recently, so I’m excited to see where I go.

After taking the test I received two high scores, three averages, and one low. Extroversion was one of my high scores, which means I’m outgoing, excitable, and prefer to be around people. Agreeableness is low, meaning I am critical and uncompromising to peoples feelings in comparison with my own. Conscientiousness is high, which means I have clear and specific goals and I am seen as determined, reliable, and hard-working. Neuroticism is average, implying my level of emotion reactivity is normal, and I can get upset during stressful times, but am able to cope with them. My openness to experience is average which says I am good with tradition, but also with trying new things.

If a potential employer were to look at these results, I imagine they would say my strengths are my leadership abilities, goal-setting abilities, and drive. I have high extroversion and conscientiousness, so I love life and work to do the most and be the best in most things I do. This points to me being a hard-worker with usually great results, because I care. Neuroticism and openness to experience are average which means I tend to handle my emotions well, and am ready to do the job the normal way if that is how it needs to be done, but I am also open to new ideas or even creating new ways to do something if needed. However, my weaknesses tend to show themselves when I am stressed, upset, and most often arise when things go wrong. I have low agreeableness, which would concern a potential employer because I tend to not take into consideration how I am affecting others, which can cause problems in group projects and when I take on leadership roles. I will also be critical because I believe that people need to put in 100% all the time because that’s what I believe I do, so when I don’t see it I can get upset. My neuroticism and openness to experience are average, which I discussed above can be a good thing, but they can also have some bad affects as well. The average neuroticism points to disliking stressful situations, like I discussed above. The average openness to experience means that I don’t prefer new experiences per say, but instead have to decide whether I want to try something new. Depending on the business/company all of these things could be viewed differently, which makes this interesting and, to me, fun to discover and discuss.