What Needs To Be Done To Achieve Your Dreams In 25 Years - Personal Statement Example

of Topic: What will it take for you to be where you want to be 25 years from now? This paper seeks to write what it will take to become a successful psychologist twenty five years from now. As a senior in high school now, having a vision of what I want to be in the future would help me greatly in planning those activities that I will be doing in order to reach my goal. It takes 25 years presumably to become a well-known psychologist and I could just imagine how much investment in terms of efforts and resources I should be making in order to attain my goal. What is my definition of successful psychologist? Of course it should be something that should be able to provide for my personal and family needs in terms of earnings that I will have when I will reach the goal. It must be obvious to see that the goal require investments now and this would prompt me to make a list of where will I get the resources to finance my education in school. The minimum kind of education that a successful psychologist should have should include finishing a graduate and post graduate degree. I will take up my undergraduate degree in psychology at University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL) in the fall. The resources during my undergraduate which would have to come primarily from my parents and loved one with some self-help in case I will decide to work as well as study. More than the financial resources, of course, is the emotional support of my parents and loves ones to build on virtues for success which I will discuss in this paper. After finishing my undergraduate degree I plan to get a work experience of two to three years before I will make graduate degree to be followed by a post-graduate.1 This is a long journey and it would take a combination of patience and perseverance as necessary virtues to be able to be what I want to be 25 year from now. What it means to be patient can be seen in the life of a turtle. The turtle may be slow moving but its every move is calculated and it can use its scales for survival and protection as well as adjustment. By comparing my desired characteristics to be successful to that of a turtle, the same would mean having to use my “scales” which I equate with my positive outlook in life with high sense of realism. If I would have to burn the midnight oil when I have to do my school works and assignment, I will have to. In school I know there would be many assignment, research works and projects that must be accomplished before deadlines and impatient people cannot simply have them accomplished. I believe the best way to prepare for them is the virtue of patience. A patient person will not complain easily even if the work to be done is very difficult and tiresome. I would like to believe that patient people have the capacity to endure the pain in preparation for the gain. Patience is actually correlated with discipline or the capacity to postpone the enjoyment of a pleasure for the meantime by depriving oneself of the same in order to finish something important as required by my studies. It would mean risking my health sometimes by depriving me of some good sleep in order to finish works to be done. Perseverance is the capacity to rise in every fall. I know there would be challenges both emotional and material but being guided by my long-term goal, I believe I can live with it. The pain and preparation would be worth it. At this point, I will condition my mind that there is pleasure in work and in critical thinking which are very important in school. Describing my chosen school for the undergraduate degree is given some emphasis here as I believe that my undergraduate is the most important part of the preparation as it would determine whether I can continue after wards to reach or complete an estimated total of ten to twelve years of further studies after high school. I will therefore discuss my reasons why I want to study in University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL)2 and how it is going to help me as a future practicing psychologist. I would, in effect, be discussing how my stay with ULL would fit into my professional goals and personal goals. Universities or schools have their role of guiding people to organize their for the future and the present realities and complexities of the political and economic environment3 due to fast-changing technology. Preparation therefore requires an education that would position one to face greater challenges of the future. I believe that ULL education can help me to develop as a person in attaining my professional and personal goals. Some things are better learned in school than expecting to read them in the books or learn them from experience and ULL is just there at the right time and at the right place for me. ULL is well known and its campus is very big with live oak trees. There are bricks were names of every graduate could be found since 1903.4 With such more a century of existence, I am rest assured of a good school that would provide me the chance to become a good psychologist. The more than 100 years of experience of the university could only speak for its stability which could in turn imply a tradition of excellence and relevance under present business conditions. Being known also for the school’s curriculum linking business and politics, I believe that my study of psychology undergraduate degree in the university would give me the necessary preparation regarding policy and regulation psychology profession and their relationship on the business and social environment. As a person with ambition, I believe ULL will allow me to deal different situations in the professional practice of psychology. This is complemented by a wide source of its faculty from the different fields because of many other academic programs I believe that the school could help me in terms of being more capable to relate with different kinds of situations and people from different cultures that would provide a solid experience for future practice. On a practical or personal note, I know that I could play my favorite games still at ULL as I used to have during my high school. I believe also that my stay with the university, with its location strategic enough from my point of view both for personal and professional reasons. What will happen after 10 to 12 year of study would be to practice what I learned in school. Since I will have my business a practicing psychologist, I know that I would be having my people in an organization. This would therefore requirement to have a background in business and management how to make my practice of my professional a growth oriented one. I therefore have to take short courses in business. Although I would not have a very big organization to make, I would still need to know the function of a manager and a leader. I believe that I would be assuming the two functions. With my wide-ranging roles as a leader and manager of the organization that I will put up after acquiring all necessary knowledge to practice my profession as psychologist, I know that I would showing or manifesting to my people my style of leadership in relation to the task, and organizational objectives. My becoming a leader would involve a strong sense of human nature by having a deep understanding on what are my orientations in order to tap my potential for achieving organizational objectives which I am dreaming of. As leader I have to be a somewhat visionary in order to lead my people to a direction that we would take. Running an organization with figure is just like assuring my people that we would be making a living of what we are doing and this would mean assuring them of their lifetime or long-term employment. My future organization will require a kind of leadership that I envision which I described to follow the a goal-directed type of leadership5 where a pattern could be observed in my job to provide my followers with information, support and other resources for achieving my organizations goals and objectives. With this type of leadership for removing the redundancies that may cause problem in my place of work would be easier to make. At the same time, this type of leadership, I believe, reconciles with my personality. I now that future employees’ inclinations to view the environment with given attitudes are realities to address as well. How will I lead people using a goal to set direction? At that time, I would be convinced that the goal of my business was to be service to client while maximizing the value for the organization so that stability would be assured for the stakeholders. I would need to be good manager so I need to reduce or eliminate waste in my place of work including those within the sphere of my influence. I would realize the need to become more efficient, effective and reliable organization6. Realizing that this could be done by improvement of business processes of the organization and after examining the inconsistencies, I would institute a formal training program that would lead my people in accomplishing the path that I will set to them to follow. The training program would be basically in-house. As resource person to my people I should be really be armed with the required knowledge for my business. My people willingness to be trained could be taken as evidence of this goal-directed leadership theory since employees appeared to have the flexibility to prefer my directive leadership. My people willingness to follow a leader, I believe could realize the goals as required business philosophy. In conclusion, to reach my goal of becoming a successful psychologist takes twenty five years. The said period to time will undoubtedly involve a series of steps which must start with a single step. It is a reality that to have a plan is better than not having one. Successful people and entities did not come primarily by accident but by deliberate and careful planning by significant person or persons.7 At the helm of every organization is the chief executive officer who steers the rod of a business. This personal ambition of mine to become a successful psychologist will have me as the captain of my own ship. By having provided some of the directions in the analysis, I am making a personal commitment to reach these goals. Since I was able to write what is in my heart and mind, it would be more believable to accept that these things are intentions which will be easier to be energized along the way towards the attainment of my personal vision of the future. I have learned in this exercise that my definitions of success matter much by preparing the necessary activities to reach the future. My view of success is combination of material and non-material concepts which may be unique to me alone. To put in simple words my strategies to reach my goal would as follows: I need to study well in school, by doing my responsibilities as a student, as a child of my parent and a gradually maturing individual in society. By attaining my dream, I would be considered as net contributor not a net consumer to society. I would be of value and I would experience happiness along the way as I travel the path with so many but identifiable steps to make along with the challenges of life. Works Cited: Tannenbaum, R. et al. Leadership and Organization: A Behavioral Science Approach. McGraw-Hill, 1961 Miller, et al. Leadership in Higher Education: A Handbook for Practicing Administrators; Greenwood Press, 1983 Samuelson, P. and Nordhaus, W. Economics, London: McGraw-Hill, Inc, 1992 Massie, J. Essentials of Management. UK. Prentice-Hall International, 1987 Plunkett and Attner. Introduction to Management. Boston, Massachusetts: PWS-Kent Publishing Company, 1985 Pearson, G. Strategy in Action. Prentice Hall Financial Times, 1999. “Master of Science in Psychology” (2011) Retrieved May 3, 2011 from < http://psychology.louisiana.edu/programs/PSYCMastersDescription1-10.pdf> “Psychology Undergraduate Program” (2011). Retrieved May 3, 2011 from < http://psychology.louisiana.edu/programs/index.shtml > Read More