A Reflection About Myself and My Personality

As I progress through my life, I have been able to gain a better understanding of myself, and the way I act. I have become more aware of my strengths, weaknesses, personality, and the way I learn. I have realized that understanding myself allows me to emphasize my strengths and ultimately improve on my weaknesses. This is what we will talk about in this paper "Reflection Essay About Myself and My Personality". Mastering these skills will allow me to grow as an individual, and accomplish any goals I set forth. When I was younger, like many people, I had no idea what I was good at or what I wanted to do when I grew up. I’m still not positive, but as I meet new people and experience new things, I have been able to gain a better understanding of my abilities. I recognize that I am still growing up, so I strive to try new things in order to find out my strengths and weaknesses. For example, College has been an enormous step for me in terms of trying new things. Whether I am registering for a new class, joining a club, or joining a new intramural sports team I am always challenging myself by immersing in new situations around entirely new people. Coming from a small town and high school, I have never been good at introducing myself to new people or working efficiently with a large group. I purposely challenged myself in these new situations in order to become more socially aware, while pushing myself out of my comfort zone. By doing so, I have been able to observe other people’s strengths and weaknesses and realized that a lot of other people are trying to do the same as me.

In Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker, Drucker says “Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong”. This was highlighted to me throughout my experience at the University of New Hampshire. When I first got accepted to the business school I thought I wanted to be a marketing major because I have excellent communication and team-oriented skills. As I progressed through my general business classes I quickly realized that although I was good at those things, I was actually better at math and more analytics related courses. I have since changed my decision and I am now a finance major, as well as an information systems & business analytics major. I have discovered a way compile all of my skills and apply them where I am the strongest. In an effort to grow as an individual, I figured it is important to know how I learn best. Understanding which way you learn best is important to maximizing ones full potential.

Everybody performs and learns in their own unique way. Drucker talks about the differences between listeners and readers. I am a reader. I have never been able to just listen to someone speak and fully retain all of the information for what it’s worth. I have always been a “doer”, meaning I need the be the one in control and I need to physically read or write down the information to get the most out of it. In school, I find it very difficult to sit in a long lecture where I am required to just listen to the professor speak, then regurgitate the information read to me on a quiz or a test. I prefer a class that emphasizes a hands-on experience where I can work with the new information and apply it in an activity or practice. I find it significantly easier to gain a better understanding of the information this way. Being able to recognize whether you are a reader or a listener is very important in terms of learning at the best of your ability. Drucker mentions how it is very hard for someone with a particular learning style to change their ways and adapt to other styles. This should be accounted for by schools, and they should provide a variety of ways to teach students. Schools should provide all of the recourses necessary to promote individual student growth.

After taking the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I found out that I am categorized as an extrovert. I can partially see why I may have been categorized as an extrovert, although I have to disagree. It has always been a challenge for me to be outgoing and talkative as I am typically more reserved and quiet. I have recognized this weakness of mine and I have always tried to overcome it by going out of my way to be more outgoing. I believe this could have swayed my results, as I may have answered the questions based on how I want to be rather than how I honestly am.

One way I attempted to overcome this personality trait of mine is through work. When I had just turned 18 I applied to a sales consultant job at Best Buy. I knew this job would require me to have conversations with hundreds of strangers a day. This, at the time, was a fear of mine but I was eager to push myself outside of my comfort zone. In Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talk, she mentioned how one needs to “fake it till you make it”. This is exactly what I did while working at Best Buy. I strongly disliked having to talk to strangers all day long because I felt uncomfortable. But I continued to do so because I ultimately wanted to improve. Overtime, I actually became very good at it, and I began to greatly improve my communication and interpersonal skills. As a salesperson, my emotional intelligence was challenged daily as I was required to approach every customer in the store. I had to assess the customers attitude in order to efficiently help them find what they were looking for. For example, some customers were angry that something of theirs wasn’t working, so I would approach them nicely and cautiously while offering my assistance to try and find a solution for them.

After spending a lot of time trying to overcome my fears and improving my skills, I was awarded by the company for have the highest NPS score in the store for the fiscal year. The NPS score (or Net Promoter Score) is a measure of overall customer satisfaction based on their experience with me. To this day, I am proud of myself for this accomplishment, as it is proof of me overcoming my fears and succeeding. One of my most significant motivational drives is the opportunity to improve myself and excel expectations. Entering the workforce, I will be looking to apply what I have learned about myself and others, and ultimately find a job that I enjoy. There are a variety of motivational factors that are important to me when setting up my career, but the most important to me are opportunities to improve, financial compensation, and the ability to enjoy what I do. In How Motivational Focus Drives Performance by Angelia Herrin, Angelia says “Every person is motivated differently”. This is important for managers to understand because they are responsible for coordinating and organizing an efficient team in the workplace. The best way to do this, is to cater to each individuals’ unique motivational drives. If the team is motivated to work, the results will be positive.

Throughout my life, my personal experiences have helped me realize who I am and what I need to do to improve myself. They have given me the opportunity to pinpoint my strengths and weaknesses, which is important in maximizing my potential. I have become more aware of my unique personality traits, and I have learned how to utilize them in order to grow. Knowing how I learn, and what drives my motivation will lead me to setting up my career path in the best way for me.