Your Unique Personality

One would never think that it would take so much work to learn who you were. I guess if we knew we knew everything about our self we would grow bored. One of the things that makes life so grand is the continual process of learning and discovering what makes each of us unique. The last two exercises have hopefully helped you discover a little bit about what makes you unique. This next exercise can really challenge you. The idea is to take the last two activities and build upon them to create a personality statement. The idea of a personality statement is to create a short message that would allow you to present yourself to an employer or when networking. You will take the personality characteristics you identified and use them to introduce yourself. You cannot merely state characteristics but you must demonstrate them. This is where the key accomplishments come into play. This assignment will help you see how you demonstrate strengths. We do not show characteristics in the same way. You may discover further talents that you have.

Here is a short example of my personality statement. I am a highly organized individual. I plan to accomplish assignments and projects a couple of days before they are due. I seek to manage my time so I can complete the optimal amount of work. This allows me to save time and energy.

Did you learn anything new about yourself? Have you been able to see how you are unique? Remember that there is no one else like you. There are specific things that only you can do.

Discovering Your Personality

Part of discovering your passion is to learn your personality. If we do not know who we are, how can we expect to choose a career or major that we will love if we do not know what we love? The key accomplishments are meant to help you discover characteristics that make up you. In the next part of the assessment you will take your key accomplishments and discover personality characteristics.

1.   Read through the paragraphs you created for key accomplishments.
2.  Reread your paragraphs searching for characteristics shown in your paragraphs. If a characteristic is mentioned more than once, mark each additional time.
3.  Make a list of characteristics.
4. Search this list and add additional characteristics.

I know that at times I can struggle to find strengths that I have in myself. If you struggle as well, ask a friend, coworker, or family member to point out strengths that you have. They can see you in a way that you often cannot.

I learned some characteristics that were common throughout my paragraphs were organization, obedient, studious, and spiritual. As I look at these characteristics, I understand how they will benefit my choice of major. A teacher needs to be organized in creating lesson plans, collecting material, and having an efficient classroom. Obedience will help me to follow school procedures and policies. A teacher needs to be studious. I will need to constantly learn new updates, learn new management principles, and find new ways to teach the students. My spiritual side can help me remember my purpose in teaching. I can receive direction in reaching my students. What were your top four characteristics?

Courtesy of  http://www.professional-resume-example.com/personality-traits.html  

The Road of Self Discovery: Key Accomplishments

As a college student, the pressure to select a major creates a lot of pressure. We want to select the perfect major immediately. I know that this was my case. I can be a bit of a perfectionist in my life. I do not like making mistakes which is one of the reasons I did not declare a major my first year of college. I want a perfect job and perfect major. I eventually selected a major after a long process that is a fit for me. I hope that this process can help you find a major that will enable you to use your gifts and talents to bless the lives of those around us. As I blog the process to discovering your passion which can give you a direction, I will explain how I came to decide on my major in Family and Consumer Science Education.  These evaluations will require you to be honest. If you are not honest with yourself, how can you expect to discover yourself? Grab a notebook and begin to write the thoughts and impressions that come to your mind.

The first step is discovering key accomplishments. These are achievements in your life that have brought you a sense of achievement and joy.

1.     1.  Fill out the chart with all of the different achievements in your life.

2.       2. Select your top 5 achievements.

3.       3.Write a paragraph about the experience. Be descriptive. Write down the steps and attributes you exercised in achieving that accomplishment.

Here is one of my examples. I served an 18 month mission for my church. This is the greatest accomplishment of my life. I have always wanted to serve a mission but I knew that it was conditional if it was the Lord’s will. I prayed and fasted to know if it was right. As I watched a video on missionary work, I received a prompting it was right. I met with my Bishop (our local church leader) who interviewed me to see if I was worthy to serve a mission. I made appointments to meet with my dentist and doctor to obtain medical approval that I had the needed health to serve a mission. I submitted my mission papers. I prepared in many ways. On the mission I was obedient as I lived by a rigorous structure. I learned patience with myself and others. I learned to let go of my fears and trust that God would give me what I needed. I learned to find joy in every moment as I walked hills, trudged through snow, braced wind advisory weather, and walked through blazing heat. I demonstrated persistence as I never gave up but kept going. The greatest feeling came as I stepped off the airplane and saw my family there waiting for me. There was a great high as I knew that I gave everything I had to the Lord.

Post your #1 achievement and the attributes you exhibited in reaching that accomplishment. 

Age	School	Work	Family & friends	Hobbies & personal interests	Church
0-5
6-11
12-15
16-18
19-21
22-25

A New Series: Finding Your Passion

Work: We all do it. We will spend an average of forty years of our life working at a job. That is over half of our life. Some view work as mere drudgery of what they must do day after day. Others view it as a way to express themselves a way to personal fulfillment. What is the difference between the two sides or views on working? It is the sense of passion and commitment the person feels. A fashion designer can merely go through the motions in creating a garment or they can seek inspiration. Their passion drives them to create new designs never before seen. They feel fulfilled as they see people wearing a garment that they designed. We can all find that sense of fulfillment whether we are a fashion designer, a plumber, or a lawyer.

 My purpose in writing the next several blog posts is to help you find ways in which to identify your interests, turn it into a passion, and find fulfillment through your job. One of the differences is work ethic or the degree of commitment we show to our job. An important thing is to find our passion. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines passion as, “a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something.” Passion is what drives us to find a high commitment to our job. We all have something with which we have a great passion. Our interests lead us to happiness.

 I want you to find your passion. It can be that you are compassionate, creative, or a great speaker. Take that talent and use it. Maybe you are a refrigerator repairman who is compassionate. You are kind and patient when people call you. You do all you can to work quickly.

Over the next days and weeks I am going to be following a self-assessment guide from one my textbook. I hope that I will be able to identify strengths and talents that I have. I will post the questions and my thoughts. I hope that you will follow along as well. Questions will be posted that I hope you will respond to.

Here is video I hope will inspire you to reach your best self.