Self Reflection – Four Questions to Cultivate my Career.

The four questions provided under the “Cultivate Your Career” implication are a great method for self-reflection. And a great approach to dig into who I am and how I want to aim things in life both physically and spiritually.

1. What am I good at?

From a strength perspective, I am good at teamwork, not just working in a team, not just accepting team ideas and team scenarios, but properly leading a team and identifying the issues that may arise, what solutions we need, etc. Throughout my college and work lives, I have needed and used these skills almost daily, from simply making sure projects are completely promptly with the right focus, to identifying an issue, looking for solutions and even making the hard choices to remove individuals, cancel projects, etc. This alongside organization are where I excel. Organization has always been a key element of who I am, I feel that without the proper organization of both thoughts and physical items, I can never truly succeed in the way that I want to. I am able to properly lay out what I need, what I have, and what I am after. It allows me to better plan my paths for projects and goals, and to this day has proven itself as a ideal method for me to succeed, and for me to help others on teams, as coworkers, and around me in general also succeed.

• What do I value?

Looking in at what I would value I feel like I have the common answers and the more unique/one-off answers. On the common side, I value my family and friends who have supported me for years, taught me key lessons, and helped me get to where I am today, even if every decision wasn’t always the “right” one. I value honesty, trust, and organization all traits that I not only look for in friends and family but honor myself and focus heavily on making sure I “practice what I preach:” by valuing the same traits in myself that I value coming from others.

I value the various opportunities I have had to grow myself, my career, and my experience from internships, summer jobs, and networking events, the relationships I have built from those have truly allowed me to build my brand and value up when looking for a career, but also built up the value of true experience in my mind. Showing that even if you hate the path you may be on at the moment, something of value can still come from it.

• How did I get here?

Looking back over the last 16 years of schooling and the time before that, I would say that I got here through hard work, determination, and extreme failure. I was brought up on the idea that if you want it you work for it, and with that mentality, I have approached everything in life and careers with such an idea. I’m not going to get a raise, or a promotion, etc. without working and proving that I should have it. I didn’t get into the MBA program by just saying I wanted to but instead by proving myself elsewhere to have strong letters of recommendation. I haven’t gotten here by limping along or riding on the coattails of someone else, but by working hard and proving myself every step of the way, something I plan to keep implementing as I move forward in life and my career.

• Where am I going?

Honestly, I don’t know where I am going, even after sitting on this question for a while. I would love to go into a career somewhere within manufacturing or construction management and use that as a proving ground to truly show off my value, my experience, and my knowledge within a professional environment. Outside of that, I want to expand my professional skills through proper development tools and classes to better expand my expertise and knowledge within a supervision role and further develop my overall career path over the coming years.