What are your personal strengths?
Strengths can be used in various of places such as school, work, home, etc. When I think about my strengths, I think about all the things that I am good at and all the things I am not good at. In the article, “Managing Oneself,” discusses discovering strengths and improving them. The main goal is to learn what your values are and how you can make a difference in today’s society. One cannot build performance on weaknesses, let alone on something one cannot do at all (Drucker, 1999, p.
66). I believe that to have a significant impact on your life, you must know what your strengths are to grow. For example, I am a college senior still figuring out who I am as a person and soon I will be graduating working a real job. To improve my performance so that I am successful, I have to be willing to learn to develop myself and place myself where I can make my biggest contribution for the future.
For me, my two strongest strengths are prioritizing Prudence and Forgiveness. According to the article, “We need to know our strengths to know where we belong,” (Drucker, 1999, p. 66). One of my strongest strengths about myself is that I am a woman of prudence. For example, I always think carefully before I take any action. Being in college has taught me to make responsible decisions for myself. When it is time to make schedules for the next semester, I know that I need to accommodate my work schedule because I have bills to take care of.
I believe that prudence describes one of my strongest strengths because I am very careful when it comes to making choices and not taking risks. I take my time to make sure my class schedule accommodates my work schedule, while making sure that I need to make sure I don’t get behind. Forgiving someone is not a strong trait that everyone has. As I’ve grown older, I realized that I have a strong strength for forgiveness.
Throughout my four years of college I have experienced very tough situations where I had to learn to forgive those who have hurt and impacted my life. Before coming into college my mother and I have not always had the best relationship. I would hold grudges and allow my school performance to be affected. Throughout my last four years of college, I’ve learned that to grow, I had to be able to forgive my mom. At work, I also had a situation with a co-worker. I found out that person was saying hurtful things about me. As a program director I have to be able to communicate and cooperate with my staff, so I had to put my feelings away to have a conversation with this person. Although the things that were said about be were hurtful, I had to allow myself to forgive that person in order to have a healthy work environment.
As a child, I have grown up believing the saying told by my parents that “Santa Clause is watching”. Equally this is the same as someone else always watching who you are as a person, you never know who noticed all of your strengths and weaknesses. Others may believe that problem-solving skills are a strong strength that I carry. I have always been the one to make the most out of a tough situation. When you work with kids, there are many situations that you have to know how to overcome. For example, if there is a child hurt or needs attention, I have to make responsible decisions and overcome difficult situations. As a leader, I know that I have to be able to demonstrate taking on hard challenges and correcting staff. There have been days where we have been short staff and have to guide subs that come in to help.
Although we have help, it still requires problem solving skills because that person does not know the kids like the staff does or know the school very well. Another strong strength others say I have is organization. The first thing someone says when they first walk into my room is that it is very organized. When it comes to school, I take the time out the write down all my dates and assignments. Being organized has its advantage such as reducing stress and balancing tasks efficiently.
Having analyzed what my strengths are and how other people view my strengths, I now realize that there is always room for improvement even in my strongest areas. One of my strengths that I want to challenge myself to build on going forward is my problem-solving skills. I choose this skill because although I perform well at work, I know that I am still very dependable upon my father. As a parent, your parents are supposed to always be there to pick up the pieces. I feel that even at the age of 22 years old, I still rely on my father to fix all of my problems. For example, when something is wrong with my car, I drive all the way home versus taking the time to find a place locally. As a next step on improvement, I plan to enhance it by mapping out ways to solve my problems before calling my father for help. I could take the time to see what I can do first, take the action in doing it, having another plan in place, and lastly use my father as a last resort.
Choosing the right major in college is a very important decision during a student’s academic life. What you choose as a career path is what you will be doing for a long period of time. If your major requires you to think critically or communicate effectively, you need to have the strengths of demonstrating those in places you may work for. Oftentimes in these workplaces you come across many different people with many different characteristics that can be both good and bad. As I continue to grow, I am understanding the importance of the need of getting along with others who are not like me. Demonstrating teamwork is very important because if you don’t have a good team you are unsuccessful. Another person might have a different view on specific things than I may have. I need to be able to get perspective from that person. “Do not try to change yourself – you are unlikely to succeed.
Work to improve the way you perform” (Drucker, 1999, p. 68). Understanding the thoughts and feelings of someone else will give you a better view and a different perspective. Another strategy that I would need is to always remain calm, regardless of the situation. Being angry with someone or causing friction in the workplace does not only affect you, but it affects everyone else who works with you. Staying calm in any situation is always the best way to handle a problem if you do not get along with that person. As I work to improve myself by using these strategies, it will show in my performance at work.
Throughout life, you develop personal values that can be influenced by family, friends, religion, and more. Individual qualities develop through experiences and improvements, they impact not only our personal lives but professional lives as well. To manage yourself you have to know your values. One question to ask yourself is “What kind of person do I want to see in the mirror in the morning?” (Drucker, 1999, pp. 69). One of my biggest values is commitment. My parents have always taught me to spend my time making a decision to do something before committing. When you agree to something, not only are you dedicating yourself to something to a person or a cause. I hold this value important because you make yourself liable. It also means that you allowed someone else to put their trust in you. Reliability is another value that I hold great value to. Showing that you are a reliable person also means that you are a person who can be trusted. For example, employers look for candidates who show concatenating and those who show that they can be reliable in their place of business. My younger siblings look up to me for guidance and support. Being an older sibling, I am there for them whenever they need me. They can always rely on me to give advice, honest opinion or even when in tough situations. In the future I want to contribute to my career. “They should make a difference. Finally, results should be visible and, if at all possible, measurable” (Drucker, 1999, pp. 71). One day I hope to become a Mental Health Counselor and work with kids with behavioral problems. Working with someone else’s behaviors is not an easy task. I want my values to contribute to my career for me to impact a child’s life who may need that extra support or that guidance to improve their strengths and weaknesses.
In Conclusion, when I think about my strengths, I think about where I belong and where do I not belong. In the article, Drucker suggests asking yourself these three questions which are “What are my strengths? How do I perform? and, What are my values?” (Drucker, 1999, pp. 70). I never know where life may take me or how the outcome of my career will turn out. Knowing where I belong and what my strengths are will help me develop a successful career. This understanding could be important to me as a learner because to grow I must be willing to discover my strengths and improve them. Realizing how to balance my strengths and abilities, I can be effective In a school environment, work, and where ever my career path leads me. Most importantly, I have learned that my personality describes my strengths and I hope to improve them to help make the biggest contribution to this world for future years.
Find Your Strength And Improve Them. (2021, Dec 10). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/find-your-strength-and-improve-them/