An Applied Personal and Professional Development - Essay Example

?Running Head: Personal Development Personal Development, Self-Management and Reflection Executive Summary The reflection paper emphasizes the effects of an Applied Personal and Professional Development Evaluation on his development. Regardless of the amount of natural talent one is born with, however, it can never completely supplant constant training and dedication. Being naturally good at something should never be an excuse for laziness, complacency or mediocrity, but instead an encouragement of sorts to work even harder to develop that talent. For instance, a naturally dexterous pianist should use his innate dexterity as an asset in striving to become the best that he can be, rather than merely banking on it to achieve success every time. Introduction Part 1: Self-Evaluation, Essential Skills As described by the Applied Personal and Professional Development Module, a skill is something one can learn, and then develop with further practice, reflection and refinement. While talent is something people are born with, skills are learned throughout the course of one’s life, and then further refined down the road. An individual talented in a certain field can quite easily excel there in no time flat, and may in fact go on to dominate that field completely. Both of these are definitely assets in any field, and HE training is no exception. Given proper training, even an otherwise unremarkable individual can surpass someone who is talented but lazy. Former US President Calvin Coolidge (n.d.) said it best when he said that ‘nothing in the world can take the place of persistence’, and that nothing is more common than someone who is talented yet unsuccessful. And in this regard, I for one am proud to say that while my own talent may yet be questioned, my persistence and drive have always been beyond reproach. Not only do I possess ample quantities of persistence and determination, I can also say that I have other virtues such as determination and commitment in spades. As I’m sure I’ve displayed at various points throughout the course, I’ve consistently remained on task no matter what happened, and rarely ever coasted. On the flip side, my time management leaves a lot to be desired, and I may not always be objective when it comes to self-evaluation – that is, at times I tend to either deemphasize or overemphasize my achievements. Procrastination is also another habitual problem for me, especially since I often find it hard to get anything done without a healthy (sometimes even beyond healthy) amount of time pressure to get my heart racing. And as for technical skills, I possess the skills highlighted by Steven and Fallows (1998) as being among the most important, such as skills in problem-solving, planning, and communication. These are said to be among the most important of all. All other important skills one will use in his school life as well as his career are rooted on these. Part 2: Action Plan One of my shortcomings when it comes to academic skills is the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in general, something cited by the UK Department for Employment and Learning (2011) to be among the essential skills for adults. As stated by its spokesperson Deidre McGill, the literacy and numeracy problems experienced by some adults have prevented them from reaching their full potential – which is exactly why they are problems within myself that need to be addressed the most. This being the case, I intend to sharpen my proficiency in making use of ICT, and am willing to take related crash courses should the need arise. Aside from this, I myself admit that I have some problems where information handling is concerned. Sheila Corrall (1998) of the University of Reading defines this as a set of skills including information sources, evaluation criteria, navigation methods, manipulation techniques and presentation issues – which is to say that I have difficulty at times in discerning which particular bits of information should be given greater emphasis, and how best to present them. That is, I sometimes deemphasize the important bits, or otherwise emphasize less important ones. In my view, the best way to fix this is by reading instructions and guidelines more carefully so I become more wary of straying from them. With regard to my action plan for this course’s assignments, I tend to take a singular approach to all my tasks: seize the day. My particular take on this is that I’d rather not put off for tomorrow something I can get over with right now, and if at all possible, I like to make sure I get things right the first time. Being able to do this should count for less hassle and difficulty later on, especially in such a fast-paced and hectic course as this one. This often means I do everything with haste, but even then, I do my utmost to never sacrifice quality for speed. If anything, I still take time to think things through, though not to the extent others would have in mind. Secondly, I believe in the importance of preparing ahead of time for what needs to be done. This cannot be seen as anything but practical, as for sure, no one would want to get caught unawares or with his pants down. No one would enjoy crashing and burning just because he did not see a certain scenario coming, or because he failed to consider everything in advance – doubly, triply so if every other detail had already been accounted for. The solution, then, is to prepare. Granted, while it has been said that even ‘the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry’, one’s best-laid plans are still one’s best hope for success. Here in particular, a maxim from my high school days comes into mind: “If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail”. Part 3: Study Skills and their Components In this area, my greatest shortcomings are time management, self-motivation and and positive thinking, while strategizing, perseverance and determination are things I can easily call my forte. First to be discussed are my weaknesses, and then my strengths – being weaknesses, they would naturally require the greatest and foremost attention. Time management As defined by Seven Habits author Stephen Covey (1990), time management is a process enacted with the ultimate goal of boosting efficiency and productivity by controlling how much time one spends on activities. The general idea is that since a day only has 24 hours, one must do his utmost to make sure that he makes the most of his time each day, rather than just wasting it in meaningless, trivial pursuits. This means that certain tasks are given higher priority over others, depending in part on their overall importance in the greater scheme of things. It can refer not only to business, but also to one’s personal agenda, and in both cases one needs to decide which of his tasks are of higher priority compared to the others. That is, which one should be prioritized – the highly urgent task due in a few hours, or a not-quite-as-urgent task that will have more impact in the long run? Granted, most urgent tasks also happen to be important, but not always. Something urgent may not be that significant in the greater scheme of things, and there are important things we tend to put off indefinitely until it is too late. Another book by the same author (1994) skates on the subject of importance versus urgency. In particular, importance is given greater emphasis compared to urgency, and a distinction is made between the two. Something ‘urgent’ is needed right now, immediately, but in the long run may not be that important after all – such as tasks given by one’s student organization. On the other hand, something is said to be important if it has a lasting impact on one’s future, an example of which would be homework – something that boosts one’s grades and with them, one’s credentials. This in particular is something I tend to fail at, as I almost always fall into the trap of emphasizing the urgent over what is actually important. This being the case, I intend to review which is really more important in the long run whenever I have a bunch of pending items on my to-do list. Self-motivation An article by Latumahina (2008) on LifeOptimizer.org upholds the importance of self-motivation, and quotes Andrew Carnegie who tells us that those without self-motivation can only ever be mediocre. Someone who is able to motivate himself remains focused and in high spirits no matter what happens, and is thus better able to overcome difficulties. Unfortunately for me, it is when things get really hectic and/or stressful that I am put to the test. Even though I press on with the task, sometimes I get upset with myself, doubtful or otherwise In particular, whenever I perform my tasks, I tend to remember how I used to mess up majorly in the past, and I get really scared at the idea of messing up my current task as well. There was a time where I experienced a succession of failures I wouldn’t otherwise be talking about, and even today I sometimes end up letting them paralyze me. At this, Latumahina’s (2008) article says that one should be able to let go of the past and instead focus on right now. For my part I am mostly aware of this, but still I tend to have difficulty actually putting such a concept into practice. It may be that I still need to come to terms with my past failure before being able to do better. Positive thinking Related to the above is my optimism – or, more to the point, my lack of it. Derived from the Greek word ‘optimum’, optimism means expecting and hoping for the best outcome (Glickman, 2002), and is a largely learned trait (Vaughan, 2000). Again, this is a problem for me. While one the mottos I live by is to ‘hope for the best but expect the worst’, I have a bad habit of leaning more towards the latter than is really appropriate. Again, my history of past failings has a way of hampering my ability to concentrate, and I end up shutting down on the spot, unable to concentrate. This has been a major, major problem for me at various points in that my state of mind ruined my ability to ensure that I produce the best output I possibly can. It seems among my greatest flaws here is that I tend to take failure hard personally. Perhaps learning to lighten up in this regard would do me some good. By this I don’t mean that I should take failure as no big deal – far from it – but rather to not let it affect future endeavors. That is, what has passed should be left in the past, and what is yet to be done is what should be worried about. Strategizing Meanwhile, the first of my strengths lies in strategizing. Heuser (2010) defines a strategy as a plan designed to achieve a specific goal, and requires adaptability above all in order to ensure success. This means that one needs not only to be focused on what he wants to achieve, but must also be ready to deal with whatever complications that may arise in its pursuit. Master strategists are those who can think things through, take every detail into account when it comes to planning and then pull off the plan with the best results. Not only that, they are also highly capable of adjusting and adapting to different situations or when unexpected developments come up. I personally take pride in my ability to think on my feet and to rewrite my plans on the fly, something others may be unable or unwilling to do well. I for one believe in having a backup plan – a plan B – waiting in the wings in case things go wrong, especially since something that can go wrong is likely to do so. That said, even a plan B will have its own limits. It can be said that if one’s life can be summed up as being a success of plan Bs, that same life also consists of a whole string of failed plan As. Simply put, having plan B is a useful fallback in case something happens with plan A, but the best thing to do is still to make plan A as foolproof as possible. Given my past history for failure, it is through planning that I have since been able to up my odds for success. Had I not realized the importance of advance planning, I’d still be the epic failure I was during my high school days. Perseverance and Determination These are two more of my greatest strengths, and their very close relation is why they shall be discussed at the same time. Again, the late President Coolidge (n.d.) in particular has been known to uphold the value of perseverance, determination and persistence, even going so far as to call them ‘omnipotent’. Truly, he says, nothing in this world can ever take the place of determination, persistence and perseverance. These can be explained in so many words. For one thing, all of these concepts have the same meaning, and refer to the same thing: pressing on against all odds, with singular focus on the goal one wants to achieve. Even talent will not suffice if one’s determination is lacking. All too often, talented people become too confident in their abilities, place too much pride and/or trust in them, and completely lose it when things go wrong. Thus, accustomed to coasting or breezing through, they quit easily out of frustration. If nothing else, at least none of my failures were from giving up. Neither will raw intelligence suffice. Anyone who gets into a prestigious school such as Harvard (or, for that matter, this school itself) and the rest definitely has brains, else he wouldn’t even be there. But if intelligence were all that mattered, everyone studying in those schools would deserve awards. In fact, awards may not even be needed in the first place, for the simple reason that it no longer becomes exemplary if everyone is deserving of it. But again, too many people begin to erroneously believe that intelligence is enough, forgetting that they actually need to make use of it in order to get anywhere. Conclusion and Recommendations This reflection paper has taught me that relying on education alone will also doom one to failure. Again, if education were enough, the job market would not be so crowded, and everyone who went through college or even high school would be enjoying at least a little bit of success. To me, this simply means that I will never falter when it comes to something I judge to be of utmost importance, especially when all is not yet lost. While this would seem to be contradictory to my earlier admission of my seeming phobia of failure, I especially refuse to fail at things I actually consider to be of some importance to me. While it is still possible to achieve success, I for one will not be derailed from my goal – I neither have the need nor the desire to add yet another on my litany of failures. After all is said, I know that the drive to improve myself will allow me to reach all the goals that I have set out for myself. References Coolidge, J.C. Jr. (n.d.) Press on. Retrieved on March 10, 2011 http://www.appleseeds.org/Press-On.htm Corrall, S. (1998) Key skills for students in higher education. SCONUL Newsletter 15. Winter 1998, pp 25-29 Covey, S (1994). First things first. ISBN 0684802031. Covey, S. (1990) The seven habits of highly effective people. Fireside. Essential skills: how to get ahead (2011) UK Department for Employment and Learning. Retrieved on March 10, 2011 from http://www.delni.gov.uk/index/successthroughskills/skills-and-training-programmes-2/essential-skills/es-course-providers/es-providers-regionalachievement/es-achievement-armagh.htm Glickman, R. Ph.D (2002). Optimal thinking: How to be your best self. New York: Wiley 2002. Heuser, B. (2010) The evolution of strategy: thinking war from antiquity to the present (Cambridge University Press, 2010), ISBN 978-0-521-19968-1. Latumahina, D. (2008) Self motivation: how to motivate yourself. LifeOptimizer.org. Retrieved on March 10, 2011 from http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2008/10/22/self-motivation-how-to-motivate-yourself/ Steven, C. and Fallows, S. (1998) Enhancing employability skills within higher education: impact on teaching, learning and assessment. Higher Education Close Up. Vaughan, S.C. (2000) Half empty, half full: Understanding the psychological roots of optimism. New York: Harcourt, Inc. Read More