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Skill/Attribute |
Leadership Objective | Evidence |
Updates |
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· Self-Awareness |
To learn what my motives, strengths, and weaknesses are in my schooling, career, and leadership paths. | By participating in Insight, I can identify my personal strengths and who I am in society. This will aid in developing my self-awareness. |
In place of attending Insight, I was able to identify who I am by becoming involved with many different organizations on campus. |
I realized that signing up to attend Insight and becoming involved in many different activities, clubs and organizations on campus would help me increase my self-awareness. I knew in order to accomplish becoming more self-aware I needed to become involved in different activities and events so that I can learn about myself in different scenarios. Specifically, I wanted to discover how I would make decisions when presented with a hardship. After participating in STAR, Floral Design Club, Illini Pride, and being employed by the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics as a student-athlete tutor, Football Event Staff, Marketing Department volunteer and Assembly Hall Event Staff Services, I reflected back on what I had learned about myself. First, I observed that if I am between a rock and a hard place I need to take a step back, take a deep breath, and analyze the situation at hand. If I rush into a decision without considering all the options or consequences, I tend to make a decision that does not benefit others. Next, I learned that if I am dedicated to a cause, such as Illini Athletics, I will work to put that element ahead of those of lesser importance to me. I also found that by being involved in so many tasks is what I love. By being consistently active, it forces me to be organized and manage my time wisely. I have discovered this trait will help me manage many tasks in my internship as well as my full-time career. By discovering traits about myself, I have become more self-aware. In the future, knowing and exercising my values and exercising good time management I can make informed decisions that do the most good for the most number of people.
Taking into consideration what I have discovered about myself, I also need to discover traits that I have yet to consider. For example, in order to be fully self-aware, I would like to learn more about how I interact with co-workers versus friends versus family versus competitors. Studying how I execute these interactions will give me one more tool to think of when making decisions or interacting throughout my professional career.
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Skill/Attribute |
Leadership Objective | Evidence |
Updates |
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· Self-Management |
To take the time to set goals, reevaluate them, and reflect back to see what worked, what did not work, and what can be improved for next time. | By completing the Leadership Certificate, I will be able to reflect on my prescribed path and see where I excelled, learned, and where I can improve for future goal setting and attainment.
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Looking back at my goals, I know I need to develop a plan and follow it to reach my end goal. I realized I need to have a timeline for tasks. If I give myself one lump task, I will see it as daunting and have a hard time beginning the project. |
Prior to specifically working on self-management, I wanted to analyze what I do, when I do it and how I handle a large, daunting task; likewise, when giving directions to peers in regards to a massive project. What I learned is that I need to create personal timelines. It does not matter if I am working on a personal project or leading a group of 100, if I do not create a personal timeline then two things will happen. One, I will not be my usual, organized self. And the other, I will lump all tasks and projects together into one giant project that becomes a race against the clock to complete. On an individual standpoint, this is harmful because I become frustrated with the amount of work left to complete, when all along if I had created a personal timeline I would be in a much better situation. It is also harmful for group projects and tasks because they do not have any direction or tasks along the way to the finish line, but in the final stretch they are bombarded with mountain-sized tasks.
Taking this new knowledge of personal self-management, I have been able to take away what I do in stressful situations and how to avoid becoming overwhelmed. I can apply this knowledge first hand as I complete my Recreation, Sport, and Tourism degree at the University of Illinois. Specifically, in order not to get swamped with projects, papers, and tests at the end of my final semester, I have a calendar in which I write in all of the due dates for all projects, papers and tests. By doing this, I am able to look ahead and effectively manage my time to stay ahead of the pack. I know I will be able to apply this skill in the professional work place by having an organized calendar and filling it in accordingly. This way, if a new project is given to me, I know I will be able to complete it and not fall behind on my other tasks.
I understand one does not simply stop learning, we are lifelong learners. Being a lifelong learner, I want to focus my attention on understanding more about how I cope with deadlines once something has gone completely wrong. As a team leader, it will become my responsibility to analyze the situation and see what went wrong or if I could have done anything to prevent it. But most importantly, learn from my mistakes and the mistakes made by others.
