Category: About Myself

It was in October of 2006 when I played my first soccer game. it was my first time playing on a pitch in front of a ton of people, It was a very exciting but scary moment because I didn’t know whats gonna happen or what to do. I played my best. The game went on to full time, we drew 1-1 at the end, I played the full 90 minutes, now it’s time for penalty shootout, I recall a time when I missed in a penalty shootout. I felt like I had let my team down. I was so mad and upset. And yet I picked myself back up and practiced my shot for the next three weeks when we had a game against one of the top teams in the league. The day of the game, we went to OT penalty shootout again, against one of the best teams in the league , And I had to participate in the penalty shootout for three weeks straight, I told myself that I can’t miss, I don’t want to let my team down. I went on scoring the winning penalty kick for my team, I was so happy, truly one of the best days of my life.

Soccer has been my passion ever since I was a little kid. I grew up around people that play soccer professionally, I even had a soccer ball in my room back home in Jamaica, I would wake up and do keep ups and pass around every morning. Soccer has in many ways been my outlet, my escape from the stresses of school and life in general. Soccer has taught me so many wonderful, powerful lessons like never giving up and always believing in myself. There was this one time we were playing against one of the top teams in the competition, I play striker so my job is to score goals, so I was running to the goal with the ball and one of the defender slide tackle me and I broke my foot, I thought I was never going to be able to play soccer again but I recovered and was able to play again.

However, for me, time spent on the soccer field is time spent for self reflection and amelioration. I have learned a lot about myself through playing soccer. Before I began playing soccer I was not a fan of team activities. Now I like teamwork and I thoroughly enjoy being a part of something bigger than myself. This has also translated into my school work; I am better at working in groups for projects and assignments. Through soccer I have learned that I am a competitive person. I do not always have to win, but when there is competition I try my best to do so. I think it is important to present myself well, because every opportunity is an opportunity to get better and show others what an asset I could be.

I tried out for my school’s varsity team, and made it. When I tried out I never knew that I had found my passion in soccer again. Since then, soccer has been a tremendous outlet for me, and has had great health benefits as well. I cannot imagine my life without soccer. Being on the soccer field provides me with satisfaction that I have experienced no other place.

I live in the United States, so I call America home. However, it would not have been home if it were not for my parents. 5 years ago, my parents told me about their journey to America. According to my parents, about 20 years ago they arrived at the United States to start a new life here. They came to America with hope and wanted their children to have a good future. My parents encountered racism here and there but many kind hearted people helped them out. In America, although we consist of so many ethnic groups, we all blend together to form one nation. So what does it mean to be American according to me? To me being American is not as simple as being born in the United States. To be an American is about freedom, perseverence, and responsibility.

Freedom is such a beautiful and powerful word. A gift that not everyone gets in the world. When my parents came to the United States, they faced many obstacles. Some obstacles they faced were language barrier, cultural gap, and racism. Of course when times were hard they got homesick and missed their country, the place they once called home. Freedom is what makes America different from other countries. My dad came to the United States alone at the age of 23. He needed to get a green card to invite his family over to America. My dad married my mom in 1997 in Korea after getting his citizenship. After both of my parents became citizens of United States, they told me how moving here was important to them. They wanted to have a better life for their children where we have freedom, be safe in this country, and get an education. I felt so grateful that my parents did this for me and my sister. Imagine having to live in a new country, find a job, and communicate with others where you do not speak the language fluently. I felt happy they pushed through no matter how hard the cicumstances were.

Now that my parents both reached their target, they moved on to finish their goals. They wanted to speak English fluently for many reasons. The first reason was so that they could have a lot of job opportunities in America. Language barrier was something they both struggled with and they still do. My parents got better at understanding and speaking English. However, back then they were so new to a whole different culture and language. So my sister and I would try to teach my parents whenever they had time. My parents worked every day and probably felt very tired but still took time to learn. I was inspired to see my parents showung perseverence. I felt very proud to see my parents working hard.

Soon after my parents became citizens they had a lot of responsibilities. They had to pay income, rent, and other taxes. I wanted to help them but at my age I could do nothing except go to school and get an education. We all have resonsibilities of our own. Such as paying bills, going to school, or working. My parents often apologized for not helping us with school. They think it is their responsibility but it is our own. I get sad whenever my parents say sorry about being busy and not having enough time to spend with us. I am grateful that they work for us, feed, and put a roof over our heads.

I discovered that my parents immigrated here because they wanted their children to have a good future, get an education, and reach for our dreams. I have learned that my parents feel like they are not enough to their two daughters. Now, I know that my parents want the best for their daughters and we will not let our parents down.

I was more drawn to communication as a skill and critical thinking. With supporting course goals which are; to develop own voice, style and sense, to read texts carefully for analysis as well as to learn them to advance my exploring ability of own ideas on any topic, and finally to develop critical thinking skills that I will be able to apply in writing; uniquely both analytical and explanatory essays.

​Nonetheless, it is essential to note that for good and excellent academic writing, an individual will have to demonstrate good, thoughtful and bright ideas. The ideas should be simple to enable the reader understanding ability with less effort. On the other hand, writing can be very good with good points and ideas, but the literature shows little to no effort. Therefore important consideration should be weighed on excellent communication skills and critical thinking.

​For the sake of close analysis and insights from exploring ideas, sometimes, stating clear rules and expectations in your mindset is essential. This notion will help improve individuals writing skills, mainly writing analytical and argumentative essays. These essays rely heavily on the use of retelling stories. However, it is not exactly telling the reader what is taking place in the book, article, movie, or storybook. But it depends on the power of critical thinking. The analysis should aim to explain in details what they write insinuates, perceives, and even personal contribution and response to the arising themes for consideration (Cappelen Damm). Besides, with excellent critical thinking, the effectiveness translates to good communication skills.

​Imagine dedicating all your time and strength to reading a particularly an extensive block of writing with each idea muddling into the next. Regardless of how thrilling the novel is or exciting the news article might be, an individual will lose interest and focus on what the author is trying to deliver. Consequently, I consider it essential to contemplate yourself as the reader. Probe yourself if you can easily pay attention to the point you are trying to create. Therefore the best way to effectively develop own voice, style and sense to the audience. The writer should separate all the logical and manageable chunks. Here’s the free advice, separate a single paragraph should only focus on the main idea and grant coherent sentences to support the points. It is, however, vital to express great concern to the purpose of writing, tone; this is best expressed by the writer’s attitude on the subject of expression, and the audience who are the final consumers of the information (DonorsChoose.org). Nevertheless, the target audience should be the intended group of individuals.

​Critical thinking, on the other hand, is best expressed when evaluating writing and analyzing complex, controversial issues. Furthermore, I may advise students to critically assess any form of writing before coming to any conclusion of judgment. Nevertheless, an evaluation is the act of judging the value of something to determine its worth. In most cases, an assessment is not only influenced or verbalized by the set principles but also encourages personal view and erstwhile knowledge. For example, a company administrator may complete his/her employees’ performance score by evaluation of the subordinate established on the company’s objectives and projections even though the review will entirely depend on the supervisor’s judgment and preceding experience. The single-mindedness of evaluation, in a nutshell, is to determine the performance of employees at work.

​The same principle can be translated into academic writing where a reader’s evaluation will heavily depend on his/her opinion, justification, and topic of discussion. Moreover, educational assessment can also be influenced by the prior reading of the document, knowledge and experience with the topic issues (Watanabe-Crockett). In conclusion, typically because evaluation relies on the point of view and reason, it requires a lot of critical thinking coupled with excellent analytical skills and synthesis. However, good communication skills are pertinent for translating ideas into writing.

From a young age, I have been exceptionally interested in the science of saving lives. Paramedic Science is undeniably fascinating in every aspect; interacting with people from a diverse range of cultures, with a variety of different life experiences. I also recognise that this is a highly challenging occupation that will push me mentally and physically, however I believe it will be extremely rewarding as I help improve the health of those who are suffering. I believe this course is suitable for me as this powerful role changes lives and the opportunity to make a positive impact to society excites me.

I understand that this is an extremely demanding occupation, however I believe I have the skills and qualities required to succeed. My mentality towards the job is absolutely pivotal, as I will use my caring nature to understand the needs of the patient and reassure them by putting them at ease and making them as comfortable as possible. Along with this, I will be outgoing, warm and friendly and this will further promote a good relationship between myself and my patients. I have a highly motivated and determined approach to my work, and can guarantee that I will put my all into every task assigned. In addition, I recognise that on several occasions, I will need to demonstrate solid leadership skills and will be responsible for the lives of many. I understand this is a daunting task, but one I feel well-equipped for as I have excellent communication and team work skills which will be used effectively.

From the age of 11, I have coped well with immense pressure in a highly stressful and unpredictable setting, as I was brought up with a parent with Epilepsy; he experiences tonic clonic seizures and more recently, status epilepticcus every time this occurs. Each of these episodes have taught me to remain calm, composed and collected throughout the vital hours, or even minutes, to ensure his safety. Furthermore, I have a great insight of the life-changing effects of alcohol and drug addiction and associated mental health disorders through my husband’s immediate family. Throughout both of these difficult times, I have developed the skills of problem solving and decision making, as well as critical thinking. I can confidently say I have the ability to react well to emergencies and make swift, quick decisions while remaining calm, which I understand is absolutely essential for a paramedic.

As a 27 year old mother of one, my current jobs as a Personal Trainer, a Medical Receptionist and a Barmaid have prepared me for the role of a paramedic as I have learned that key communication skills are vital. I can communicate with people effectively when feeling at their worst with patience, sympathy and encouragement; I believe this gives a strong foundation for this course. In addition, my job as a Personal Fitness Trainer allows me to build relationships with my clients and help improve their physical heath, however this also ensures I have a great level of fitness which is essential for the peak demands of a paramedic such as lifting a body. As a Medical Receptionist, I have experience typing dictated letter’s and workflow management of hospital letter’s in the GP surgery. I have gained knowledge surrounding medical terminology, abbreviations and I understand this in its context. Moreover, in both my college course from 2009 to 2011 and a 6 week intensive personal training course in September 2011, I achieved a level 7 qualification in Anatomy and Physiology which included all of the energy systems and musculoskeletal, and Level 6 in Problem solving, critical thinking, planning and organising, reviewing and evaluating. As a means to gaining a more suitable mathematics result, I am currently a part time student at West College Glasgow studying National 5 Application of Maths.

I enjoy a challenge and believe that all of my life experiences have prepared to commence on this new and exciting journey. I always strive to be better, continue to learn and educate myself, and I am greatly excited for the challenge ahead. I offer exceptional levels of commitment, motivation and I look forward to this demanding degree choice. I am confident that I have the ability to make a real difference through a role on the NHS frontline.

My Culture is my identity and undoubtedly, my personality. It not only gives me spiritual, intellectual but also emotional divergence from others. Culture is the shared characteristics of a group of people based on either religion, language, music, literature, or geographical land. A culture may be small or extensive, however, each culture can teach us about ourselves, others and the global community.

I was born and brought up in Punjab state of India. It is one of the countries which has diverse cultures and a land of different communities. According to me, being an Asian inhabitant, I belong to the high context culture. It is a matter of fact that I am absolutely relational, contemplative, intuitive, and collectivist. In other words, I respect and tend to indulge myself in groups and take decision keeping in mind their consideration. I practice group duties and value them. I always believe in leading in a group and facing prosperity and obstacles with my peers.

Undoubtedly, managing time is important but the group I belong in to is observed to value time often less than other cultures like that of North America. I tend to consider time with a relaxed attitude. Because of my culture and the ethics I have acquired residing in there, I along with my peers indulge in formality and paternalistic power relationships. Asians are believed to rely on nonverbal cues to communicate in society including figures of speech and I don’t have difficulty in saying no.

I can improve my communication aspects in my work environment by interacting with people belonging to diverse cultures, by adopting their cultures, by respecting their beliefs and differences. Curbing Ethnocentrism is another way to develop and maintain healthy and formal work and environment relationships. Another ways to enhance communications among cultures is by avoiding prejudice, practicing oral communications and body language including hand gestures, eye moments and facial expressions.

• It may be awkward for you and the individual you are asking, however by demonstrating your readiness to ask when you don’t comprehend or when you come up short on the social information important to keep away from social false, you are showing your ability to get familiar with another culture and the predominant correspondence standards as opposed to racing through uninformed (Corp, 2017).
• Effectively focus when speaking with individuals of different societies. Listening will show you better approaches to lead cooperation’s (Strategies to improve intercultural communication, 2019).
• Approach others with proper manner and address them suitably; this is particularly significant for shutting and opening discussions. In case you’re uncertain of how to address somebody, ask first (Balk, 2018).

REFERENCE PAGE

1. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/topics/resource-library-cultural-identity/?q=&page=1&per_page=25
2. https://www.pslcorp.com/nearshoring-outsourcing/10-tips-for-improving-your-intercultural-communication-skills/
3. https://www.notredameonline.com/resources/intercultural-management/strategies-to-improve-intercultural-communication/
4. https://careertrend.com/list-7466416-ways-improve-intercultural-communication.html

As Pablo Picasso once said, “Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth”. I for one felt that painting my self-portrait helped me realize a part of my true personality. Today I will be talking about the meaning behind my self-portrait and how it relates to my personality. Like most people who create self-portraits, I was inspired by several artists. In my speech today I will share who inspired my work, how the style of the artists I chose reflects my identity, and what the symbols and features in this piece say about my identity

Lilly Simonson was one of the artists who inspired me. She paints many underwater creatures that live near or at the bottom of the ocean. She also uses blacklight reactive paint to show the beauty of the ocean. Her work is also slightly cloudy and the creatures don’t have a strong black outline. Megan Majewski also inspired my work. The images and people she paints have an unsettling effect on them. She also uses a splattering effect in her paintings. This effect causes the people she’s painting to seem to fade into the background. Those were the artists that inspired my work.

Both of the styles of the artists I chose, reflect my identity. The style of Lilly Simonson reflects my identity because the glow-in-the-dark paint shows a different side to the ocean and in my piece, it shows a creepier side to my personality. The style of Megan Majewski reflects my identity because the splattering or fog effect shows that I am not completely sure of who I am as a person and who I will become as I get older. That is how the styles of both of the artists I chose reflect my identity.

There are many symbols and features in my portrait that say different things about my identity. The symbol in my piece of the octopus tentacle wrapping around my neck and choking me says that I can sometimes hold myself back from opportunities because I’m worried about what might happen if I take that risk. The symbol in my piece of myself having abnormally large eyes represents my wanting to see the world from different perspectives or points of view. Those were a couple of the symbols and features that were in my self-portrait.

Now you know the meaning behind my self-portrait, and you have seen a part of my personality. Today you heard me talk about who inspired my work, how the style of the artists I chose reflects my identity, and what the symbols and features in this piece say about my identity. I hope that my speech makes you reflect on your own personality.

Edward James Olson in the film ‘Selena’ said: “We have to be more Mexican than the Mexican, and more American than the American. It is exhausting! Nobody knows how tough it is to be a Mexican American”. That is very true, it is hard to be a Mexican American. If you do not speak perfect English, Americans think less of you; you also have to speak flawless Spanish or Mexicans will label you a ‘pocho’. No matter what we do, we are not going to please either side of the cultural divide.

I was born and raised in Mexico. Being born gave me automatically US citizenship because of my father’s side. I lived in Mexico for over seventeen years. We did not live in an elegant place, in fact, we lived in the most dangerous neighborhood, it was and still is not a safe area to reside in, but that did not stop my father to provide my sisters and me with a good education. From kindergarten through seventh grade, I assisted bilingual schools. It was not easy to pay for. Private schools cost a lot, and for my father paying for three of us was a lot harder. Eventually, not being able to afford private schools, we had to attend public schools. Assisting a public school in Mexico was the easiest thing I have ever done in my short life, but not the best, they did not challenge the students to be better like private schools, and that for me was the biggest disappointment. I was criticized for knowing English, and they call me ‘gringa’ only for speaking another language besides Spanish.

In 2018, as a family, we decided to move to Texas for a better educational opportunity, and we did not realize all the things we were getting into. My siblings and I stayed at my grandparent’s house for a couple of months while my parents visited Texas in search of our new home. School had already begun, so I had to study at home by myself because we did not know where we were going to reside. I had to read the books my father gave me about US history, the history of California, study math at Khan Academy, and watch videos about history just to know a little bit more about the place where I was going to live. After a while, my parents came back, but clearly, Texas was not our new home. After months of searching, my parents finally decided to buy a house in Visalia. During the process of the documentation, we had to stay at a hotel in Tulare, we stayed there for over a month waiting for the papers to own the house. School was not an option during this time, don’t get me wrong, of course I wanted to attend school, but the school did not want to enroll me, I was called ‘homeless’ just because we did not own the house yet.

Starting school, I was placed in gateways, English for the ones who do not know; honestly, I did not know why I was there, I was way better to be there, I know it because my teacher was surprised when she heard me talk, she could not believe that a Mexican could talk well. After one semester, I was changed to regular English classes, where they laughed at me for having an accent. It is hard, not fitting anywhere. I was called ‘gringa’ only for knowing English, and ‘beaner’ because of my accent. People thought that being from Mexico meant not being good at school, and not wanting to go to college; Americans live in this stereotypical society where Mexicans are poor, stupid, and without education, but I proved them wrong. Teachers were surprised by what I could and can achieve. I got A’s and unfortunately a C in history; the teacher gave me a passing grade to complete the first semester because he saw I am a hard worker and that I do everything to be as good as American or even better.

Nowadays my former teachers and friends tell me that my accent is fading and that I’m becoming more American, but that is not true, I will always and forever be Mexican American, and I’m proud of it. I will show the Americans that Mexicans can be as good or even better than US citizens; we indeed have to work harder than them, but if you keep trying, you can become something greater.

Coming to the US has given me the opportunity for a better education.

Introduction

For this paper, I will be going to talk about my key personality features and the results I got from two tests called the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator and the Big 5 personality test. Another topic that will be covered in this paper will be my future career plans and aspiration. I will also go over my personal strengths and weaknesses to help me better understand the right career pick for myself. I will explain how those strengths and weaknesses will benefit me and also may hurt me in the carrier field that I have picked for myself. While explaining my carrier options I will tie in how my personality traits fit in with my carrier field.

My Personality

After completing the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator and the Big-5 personality tests I found that I have a very open-minded and social type of personality. On the downside, I found that my personality makes me do things somewhat haphazardly and I tend to get anxious or nervous quicker when compared to others. Once I finished both of the personality tests I felt like I understood the strengths and weaknesses of my personality better than I have ever done before.

MBTI

In my opinion, I found the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator to be the most interesting and helpful of the two tests that I took. [1] The Myers-Briggs theory is broken down into sixteen personality types and is used to get a better understanding of your type of personality. The MBTI personality test also is composed of five different sections which include mind, energy, tactics, nature, and identity. After completing the test, I found that I have an entrepreneurial type of personality. After I did some research into what the entrepreneur personality meant I found a lot of things that I liked and disliked about my type of personality. One thing that I liked about my personality is I have the ability to make quick decisions in pretty much any situation. The test explained how most personality types need time to sit down and think before they come to a serious decision. I liked how my personality type gives me the ability to make quick decisions because I think having this quality will help me get a lot further in life when compared to most people. One thing about my personality that I found after completing the test that I did not like was I tend to lead a risky lifestyle and do not like to follow the rules. In our world, today we are brought up to always follow the rules and live a good clean lifestyle, but with my type personality, I throw that all aside and tend to do what I think is best for myself. I did not like this trait about myself because having this way of thinking could get me into trouble and hurt my options for future careers. The Myers-Briggs personality test brought a lot of my strengths and weakness into perspective and helped me better understand my personality type. One of my strengths with my personality type is I am very bold. Since one of my traits is being bold I love to push the boundaries, and I am not afraid to experiment and try new things. Another strength of my personality type is I am a very perceptive person. Having perception as a personality trait gives me the ability to notice small changes in people’s habitats and behavior and I can use this to my advantage to help me create connections with other people. Having an entrepreneur type of personality means another strength that I possess is that I am a very sociable type of person. Being that I am a sociable person I am built to be a natural leader within groups and I excel at things that involve social interactions. While taking this personality test gave me a lot of light into my strengths but also gave me light into the weaknesses that my personality type has as well. One of the weaknesses that my personality type is I tend to be very insensitive toward other people. People that have an entrepreneur type of personality have trouble sometimes understanding people’s feelings and emotions and tend to look more at the reality of the situation. Another weakness that my personality type has is impatience towards pretty much any situation. Having this impatience, I have a hard time staying focused on a single task for a really long. Entrepreneurs’ personality types tend to be very defiant toward other people and situations. Entrepreneurs love to live their lives and do not like to be tied down or boxed in with a lot of rules and regulations to follow. After reviewing my strengths and weaknesses from the MBTI personality test I now have a better understanding of the qualities that will help me succeed in life and also the qualities that might hold me back from achieving my full potential within my career.

On the mind section of the MBTI personality test, I scored a 72% on the extroverted side compared to the 28% I scored on the introverted side. [2] By comparison, you can see that I am obviously more extroverted than introverted. Since I scored on the high side of being extraverted I like people and being around social settings such as parties and gatherings. On the energy section of the MBTI personality test, I scored a 63% on the observant side and a 37% on the intuitive side. This means my type of personality makes me more observant of my environment and can notice small changes in things that others may overlook at first glance. In the tactics section of the MBTI personality test, I scored a 61% on the prospecting side and a 39% on the judging side. This means I am more likely to focus on the stuff that I find interesting and enjoyable rather than on the stuff that my parents and teachers might tell me to focus on. When it came to the nature part of the MBTI personality test I scored a 57% on the thinking side compared to 43% on the feeling side. Having scored higher on the thinking side means that I would try to use logic and factual information during my decision-making. Finally, when it came to the identity section I scored a 74% on the turbulent side and a 26% on the assertive side. Being more turbulent than assertive means I am more prone to stress and more self-conscious than other people.

Big-5

The “Big Five” personality test is similar to the MBTI personality test in comparison. The only exception is that the “Big Five” is a more accepted model of personality in our society today. [3] The acronym OCEAN is used as a base model when it comes to the “Big Five”. The acronym OCEAN in the “Big Five” stands for open-mindedness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and negative emotionality. One thing I liked that the “Big Five” did was it gave me my own percentile so I could compare them with the sample of other people. On the open-mindedness part of the “Big Five”, I scored in the 7th percentile. With such a low score on the open-mindedness part of the test, it means my personality is more down-to-earth and conventional. This low score also indicates that I have narrow interests and I’m not that creative as a person. After reviewing this score, I ended up agreeing with it because when I took the MBTI personality test it stated that I only focus on things that I find interesting to myself. On the conscientiousness part of the “Big Five”, I scored in the 34th percentile. Since I got a low score in this section it means that I tend to do things somewhat haphazardly. I found this statement to be true because according to my score on the MBTI personality test I tend to just react to a situation rather than sit down and try to figure out a better solution to the problem. When it came to the extraversion part of the test I scored in the 71st percentile. Meaning that I am sociable and friendly, and I like having the company of others. I believe that I am definitely a more extroverted type of person because I got high scores of, extraversion on both “The Big Five” and the MBTI personality test. On, the agreeableness part of the “Big Five” I scored in the 29th percentile. This means with my personality I can be rude, harsh, and mean to other people. I personally did not like hearing this result but it did match up with the MBTI test when it stated that sometimes a have a hard time understanding people’s feelings and that I may give off a cruel or harsh impression towards other people. Finally, on the negative emotionality part of the “Big Five”, I scored in the 75th percentile. With such a high score in this percentile, it means that I tend to get more nervous and high-strung more easily compared to other people. After reviewing my scores from the “Big Five” I honestly think they are pretty accurate because they pretty much matched my other scores from the MBTI test.

Career/Job

I have high expectations that I want to reach in my life and one of those expectations is finding the perfect job for myself. As of right now, I think being a financial analyst would be the right job fit for me. Financial analysts usually work jobs dealing with other businesses or individuals providing guidance in making investment decisions. One, an important quality that you need to have as a financial analyst is good communication skills. [4] If you aren’t a good communicator with other people you will never get any big jobs or deals that you want. Another quality that a financial analyst should have is excellent decision-making skills and the ability to think on the fly. If someone has all these qualities and traits then they will most likely succeed as a financial analyst.

The Fit

I think being a financial analyst would be a good fit for me because I have the personality traits that go well with the job. I think having good communication skills works in my favor because if you can’t talk to people in that line of work no one will notice you and have a good chance of never moving up the corporate ladder. Another personality trait that I have that I think would benefit my career path would be the ability to make decisions on the fly. Being a financial analyst you will meet people who need help right away and being able to make quick decisions will definitely help you out in that career. By having these types of personality traits, I think I would be able to excel in this career path.

Conclusion

Doing the MBTI and “Big Five” tests really open my eyes to the personality traits that I process. It showed me what kind of strengths and weaknesses I have and which career paths would best suit my type of personality. I learned about the troubles I can go through with my type of personality in everyday life. These tests also showed me what things I need to work on and what are my strong points within my personality. I personally think everyone should take these two personality tests to better figure out and understand their personality type better.

References

1. (0AD). Retrieved from https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/take-the-mbti-instrument/home.htm?bhcp=1.
2. ‘It’s so incredible to finally be understood.’. (0AD). Retrieved from https://www.16personalities.com/.
3. Cherry, K. (2019, June 27). What Are the Big 5 Personality Traits? Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/the-big-five-personality-dimensions-2795422.
4. Stade, S. V. (2013, July 2). 10 traits of quality finance candidates that are ready for hire. Retrieved from https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/10-traits-of-quality-finance-job-candidates.

My Self-Assessment in the Nursing Profession and How this Helped in the Improvement of Attention to Detail and Compassion

Self-assessment, in the nursing context, is moment-to-moment self-monitoring. This directly refers to one’s ability to observe his or her own actions and correctly judge the effects of those actions (Epstein, Siegel, and Silberman 2012). Brown and Harris (2013) also gave their definition of self-assessment as an evaluative and descriptive act that is carried out by a nurse as relates to their own work. These definitions include the assessment of one’s abilities, products, and processes as they are all subject to the influence of one’s feedback.

Mechanisms of Self-assessment

There are many sides to a formative assessment in the clinical field. Basically, in the course of my earlier assessment, the areas I discovered that needed some level of improvement are my difficulty to pay attention to details due to poor concentration abilities and poor level of compassion towards patients, which also has to do with concentration issues. As stated by Hawe and Parr (2014), the main reason for self-assessment is to help participants grow in their respective fields and take central roles in the improvement aspect.

The Position of Compassion in the Clinical Care

As captured in the work of Crawford, Brown, Kvangarsnes, and Gilbert (2014), there is a global concern over the deficit of compassion across the nursing profession. This development is evident in the contemporary literature that has fairly tilted towards addressing this deficit (Dewar Adamson, Smith, Surfleet, King 2014). Noticeably, most cases of poor exhibition of compassion toward patients are from nurses who also have self-compassion issues (Dewar et al., 2014). “For someone to develop genuine compassion towards others, first he or she must have a basis upon which to cultivate compassion, and that basis is the ability to connect to one’s own feelings and to care for one’s own welfare. Caring for others requires caring for oneself” (Crawford et al., 2014). Statistics have given the indication that compassion for patients is one of the factors that motivates people who join nursing because nursing itself is synonymous with compassion. Unfortunately, at a point and through my previous self-assessment, I realized that I was one of those whose level of compassion towards patients has been declining. According to Izhaki, Treacy, Phaladze, Romeu, Vernon, Marshall, Fealy, Ehrenfeld, Larkin, McNamara, Dignam, Rollins-Ganz & Nelson (2015), there is evidence that a lack of compassion can limit the proficiency of a nurse in delivering care to patients. This is why (Klopper 2010) it is constantly important that nurses take the necessary measures towards optimizing their compassion for patients.

Earlier Measure of My Compassionate Disposition towards Patients

This measuring was done using a psychometric scale known as the Likert Scale. My choice for the Likert Scale is due to the fact that it can be easily interpreted by the prospective audience. This scale was used to find out what people (both patients and co-nurses) think about my compassionate disposition. In order to get a sincere opinion of what people really think, a questionnaire was distributed to them and they were allowed to maintain anonymity in getting their responses across to me. In the practical version of the questionnaire, I used my real name to help the respondents know who was been referred to. Here, however, I will refer to myself as nurse A.

The questionnaire came in the following versions:

S/N question disagree disagree disagree agree disagree agree

1. Despite any possible personal challenges, nurse A. is seen at all times showing good concern for both co-workers and patients.
2. Nurse A. is known to emotionally connect to the world of others especially patients.
3. Nurse A. is known to identify with patients by earnestly working to relieve their pains.
4. Nurse A. is always aware of the patient’s needs by paying detailed attention to them.
5. Nurse A. hardly gets angry even when there is a reason to.
6. Nurse A. is always responsive to the patients even when doing so leads to abandoning personal tasks.
7. Nurse A. is always a very good source of encouragement to patients.

The overall results gotten from the questionnaire shows that I have not been doing very well in terms of compassion in the course of discharging my duty. Using 4 points Likert Scale, the results are summarized as follows:

The summary of my personal assessment of compassion, using 4 points Likert Scale

The scale indicates that my earlier self-assessment on compassion was on average on a scale of 4 options. This was a pointer that my performance in that aspect needed to be thoroughly examined and improved.

On the other hand, paying good attention to details is critical for effective care to patients. This, also, was another area in that I found myself performing poorly. Prior to my earlier assessment, it was practically difficult for me to pay attention to details in the course of offering care to patients. This, I could say, was largely due to my inability to concentrate when I should. As Saarikoski, Ekaterini, Pérez, Tichelaar, Tomietto, and Warne (2013) stated, for nurses, paying good attention to details is a powerful component of mindful practice. One of the differences between effective delivery care is the ability of the nurse or caregiver to pay good attention to little details that have to do with the patient in question (Saarikoski et al., 2013). To do this appropriately, internal discipline is required. Some of the many qualities of paying attention are listening, taking actions that change the course of events, and noticing details. In other words, this involves staying alert and being ready and prepared for the unexpected in order to take quick actions that are necessary (Kajander-Unkuri, Salminen, Saarikoski, Suhonen, and Leino-Kilpi, 2013). For nurses, not being vigilant or paying good attention when one should has been associated with concerns over patients’ safety because this could lead to a number of problems including poor infection control and medication errors (Kajander-Unkuri 2013).

To ascertain my level of performance in the area of paying attention to details in the course of delivering my duty as a nurse, I also conducted a survey, using questionnaires that are tailored towards getting revealing questions in this regard. The questionnaire came with the following content:

S/N question

How was I at Poor fair good very good excellent

1. Giving patients the opportunity and needed time to fully tell the stories surrounding their illnesses by themselves without interruption.
2. Really listening to what the patient is saying without showing signs of distraction like looking at my notebook?
3. Identifying with patients and colleagues by earnestly working to relieve their pains.
4. Being aware of the patient’s needs through paying detailed attention to them.
5. Being warm and friendly to patients and treating them with respect?
6. Being genuinely interested in the patient and asking relevant questions that will positively engage them.
7. Being a good source of encouragement to the patient?

These questionnaires were distributed amongst patients and my co-workers and they were allowed to return their opinions anonymously to encourage sincere responses. 5 point Likert Scale was used in the opinion collection and the result is shown below.

The summary of my personal assessment on paying attention to details, using 5 points Likert Scale

The collected opinions indicated that I had a poor attitude toward paying attention to details.

My New Skills

The knowledge of the following assessment came to me like a shock. I had never anticipated anything as poor as that. This, however, spurred me to enroll in a number of programs that helped me develop the needed skills. On my own, I felt I was improving because my relationship with patients and colleagues were changing for good. Not relying on this, I ran another self-assessment to truly get people’s opinions on the new improvement. The result was quite encouraging. This was a repeat of the first process with the same questionnaires:

S/N question disagree disagree disagree agree disagree agree

1. Despite any possible personal challenges, nurse A. is seen at all times showing good concern for both co-workers and patients.
2. Nurse A. is known to emotionally connect to the world of others especially patients.
3. Nurse A. is known to identify with patients by earnestly working to relieve their pains.
4. Nurse A. is always aware of the patient’s needs by paying detailed attention to them.
5. Nurse A. hardly gets angry even when there is a reason to.
6. Nurse A. is always responsive to the patients even when doing so leads to abandoning personal tasks.
7. Nurse A. is always a very good source of encouragement to patients.

The above questionnaire was sent out to participants during the second phase of my self-assessment to ascertain how well I have improved in the area of compassion towards patients.

The summary of the second phase of my self-assessment on compassion, using 4 points Likert Scale

Also, I ran another assessment to ascertain my level of improvement in the area of attention to detail, using 5 points Likert Scale

S/N question

How was I at Poor fair good very good excellent

1. Giving patients the opportunity and needed time to fully tell the stories surrounding their illnesses by themselves without interruption.
2. Really listening to what the patient is saying without showing signs of distraction like looking at my notebook?
3. Identifying with patients and colleagues by earnestly working to relieve their pains.
4. Being aware of the patient’s needs through paying detailed attention to them.
5. Being warm and friendly to patients and treating them with respect?
6. Being genuinely interested in the patient and asking relevant questions that will positively engage them.
7. Being a good source of encouragement to the patient?

The summary of the second phase of my self-assessment on paying attention to details, using 5 points Likert Scale

The results show a significant improvement in the skills. During the first assessment, I was “average” on compassion and “poor” on paying attention to details. On the second attempt, however, I went from “average” to “excellent” on compassion and from “poor” on attention to detail to “good”. This shows that, although more efforts to gain additional knowledge in those areas might be required, the effort made so far has shown significant improvement.

Future Impacts on My Nursing Profession

The new skills are part of the knowledge I need to continue in the continuously dynamic medical profession. Things are changing in the medical field and it is only important that nurses strive to acquire new skills to better position them professionally and in caregiving. The new skills will help me to effectively give care to patients from different backgrounds.

References

1. Brown, G. and Harris, L. (2013). Student self-assessment, in Sage Handbook of Research on Classroom Assessment, ed J. H. McMillan (Los Angeles, CA: Sage), 367–393. doi: 10.4135/9781452218649.n21
2. Epstein, R., Siegel, D. and Silberman, J. (2012). Self-monitoring in clinical practice: a challenge for medical educators. J. Contin. Educ. Health Prof. 28, 5–13. doi: 10.1002/CHP.149
3. Hawe, E. and Parr, J. (2014). Assessment for learning in the writing classroom: an incomplete realization. Curr. J. 25, 210–237. doi: 10.1080/09585176.2013.862172
4. Crawford, P., Brown, B., Kvangarsnes, M., Gilbert, P. (2014), The Design of Compassionate Care. J. Clin. Nurs., http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jocn. 12632.
5. Dewar, B., Adamson, E., Smith, S., Surfleet, J., King, L. (2014), Clarifying Misconceptions about Compassionate Care. J. Adv. Nurs. 70 (8), 1738–1747, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jan.12322.
6. Izhaki, M., Treacy, M., Phaladze, N., Rumeu, C., Vernon, R., Marshall, B., Fealy, G., Ehrenfeld, M., Larkin, P., McNamara, M., Dignam, D., Rollins-Ganz, N. & Nelson, J. (2015). A five-country partnership to measure the perception of nursing staff caring for self, burnout, and compassion fatigue. Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies, 2(1), 1-20 http://pubs.lib.umn.edu/ijps/
7. Klopper, H. (2015), Opening Plenary Address. Sigma Theta Tau International 26th International Research Congress, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 23-27 July
8. Saarikoski, M., Ekaterini, P., Pérez, R., Tichelaar, E., Tomietto, M. and Warne, T. (2013), Students’ experiences of cooperation with nurse teacher during their clinical placements: An empirical study in a Western European context. Nurse Educ Pract; 13(2):78-82. doi:10.1016/j.nepr.2012.07.013.
9. Kajander-Unkuri, S., Salminen, L., Saarikoski, M., Suhonen, R. and Leino-Kilpi, H. (2013), Competence areas of nursing students in Europe. Nurse Educ Today; 33(6):625-632. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2013.01.017.

Introduction

Diversity means understanding that every individual is unique in their own way while recognizing our own individual differences such as ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical attributes, religion, etc. As an Australian-born male with a Russian background, it has sometimes been very difficult to truly understand the unique differences of others due to my natural personality traits and attitudes that have been derived from my own cultural background, such as stubbornness or being too emotional. However, through the concepts of diversity and self-analysis, I have been able to learn much more about people that come from other backgrounds and cultures across the world. Additionally, tools such as the Johari Window, DISC, and MIBT and relevant work experience with conflicts have also allowed me to learn more about myself by helping me discover unknown personality traits and attitudes within myself.

Self-Analysis

By comparing my own culture with that of others and through self-analysis, I was able to learn not only about cultural differences but also more about my own. It has taught me that working across different cultures increases my level of ambiguity and uncertainty, while always having the opportunity to learn about something new at the same time. Self-analysis has also allowed me to better recognize and understand other people’s emotions better. Additionally, it makes me think twice about my own actions and attitudes, and how certain actions or behaviors that might be appropriate within my culture, might not necessarily be acceptable or appropriate in another culture, especially when affiliating myself with new people from international backgrounds. These behaviors can vary from a simple choice of words to body language to physical gestures.

Personality Tools

Tools such as the Johari Window, DISC, and MBTI tests have also given me the opportunity to learn more about my own personality and attitudes through interaction with other people from different backgrounds and cultures. For example, by completing the Johari Window exercise with my peers in class that come from a wide array of cultures, I was surprised to discover that my peers believe that I am confident and idealistic. These were discovered through my “Arena”. While I do believe that I am a confident and idealistic person, it was a shock to see that others think the same, as I have always believed that I do not make these attitudes evident when I first meet people. Furthermore, through my “Blindspot” I found out that a lot of my peers believe that I am very extroverted when I think quite the opposite of myself. From this, I have learned that the way we present ourselves to others may not necessarily reflect the way people view us.

Additionally, the “DISC” and “MBTI” tests have allowed me to further learn more about my own personality and behavioral patterns. Upon completing the DISC test, I learned that I have almost no dominant personality traits and am very compliant and steady with a high drive towards accuracy and high standards. As a male who is very competitive and usually works mainly in his own ways, it was a surprise to see that I had only a mere 7% of dominance within my personality traits when compared to more compliant traits (42%). However, the “MBIT” test provided some rather relatable results, suggesting more introverted behavior with a moderate preference for “feeling” over “thinking”. The results have also concluded that I have a slight preference for sensing over intuition. This to me was also a surprise, as I believe that a lot of decisions made by me are subjectively fast and usually somewhat effortless due to making those decisions early and on the basis of recognition. Results for my DISC and MBIT tests can be found in Appendix 1.

The most surprising thing I learned about myself is the fact that I actually don’t know myself as well as I think. Through diversity and self-analysis, we are able to meet people who are so different from us, which will make us look deeper within ourselves on the inside. Communication with diverse people has also enabled me to see certain parts of my own personality and attitudes that I believe are far less prominent than others, which encourages me to work on them. Additionally, interacting with others that come from diverse backgrounds and cultures, has allowed me to become more tolerant of characteristics and attitudes projected by others, which I may not have been used to dealing with in the past.

Strengths and Weaknesses of my Personality

There are several strengths and weaknesses within my own personality that may affect communication with others in a professional environment. Someone who is very kind and friendly with others no matter what makes it very easy to get along with people and may reduce the chances of workplace conflicts related to personality clashes. However, as I am more of a compliant person, who is more introverted at the same time, this may make communication within the workplace more difficult for me personally, due to a compromising nature and not feeling confident in speaking up, demonstrating this personality trait to be one of the weaknesses within an organizational setting.

Examples of Conflict (Workplace Experience)

One of my most recent conflicts within a work environment occurred in a retail job over a preferred working method. I and one other co-worker were trying to figure out what the quickest method was to cut open boxes to unload stock, but both of us disagreed with the method provided by the other. This created unnecessary arguments and an almost toxic work environment that made things even slower at the time, as all employees had to follow the same technique. As I have a more compromising conflict management style and a compliant personality, I eventually gave up and just agreed to use his method, even though I was not familiar with it and didn’t like it. We had both failed to manage this conflict correctly, simply because both of us were too stubborn to listen to one another and did not take the time to find common ground in order to find a simple solution that we were both happy with, thus creating dysfunctional conflict within our work environment. Looking back at this situation, there were multiple things I would do to better manage this conflict. As discovered from self-analysis, sometimes what we think is best, may not always actually be the best, so it is important to take the time to listen to others first before jumping to conclusions. The first thing I would do is suggest an appropriate time and place discuss this matter with my co-worker so that it doesn’t interfere with our job at the time of the conflict. Secondly, I would take the time to actively listen to his preferred method, while calmly clarifying my insights on his recommended method before suggesting my own. Finally, by using a collaborative conflict management approach, I would offer to explore all the possible methods we could both use until we develop an agreement that will feature a method we were both happy with and would be accommodating to our needs, thus turning the situation into a positive conflict that promotes a healthy work environment to get the job done.

Another example of conflict within the workplace in my experience, occurred when I was assisting a small business owner with her social media marketing, where I would create and monitor her social media content. There was a large language and communication barrier between me and my boss as she had recently moved to Australia from South East Asia and could not speak much English. This resulted in her being unhappy with the content I produced on her social media since I would often misunderstand what she requested me to do due to this language barrier within our communication, thus creating a slight conflict between what had to be done. In this situation, I had failed to appropriately address this conflict due to an “avoiding” conflict management style and my introverted behavior within this working environment, by simply not wanting to communicate with her about these issues in case it would create even more conflict. Instead of clarifying exactly where I went wrong, I would avoid asking her about what I did that made her unhappy, while telling myself that I know exactly what the issue was. Going back, I would have taken a different approach to address this conflict appropriately by applying a more accommodative and compromising conflict management style. I would first acknowledge that this conflict exists instead of simply ignoring the issue that persisted within my job. Secondly, I would use the “compliant component” of my personality to my advantage and take the time to stop and try to really understand why exactly my boss was unhappy and if needed, take extra steps such as involving the use of translation tools to ensure that I understood everything, if necessary. Finally, I would establish an agreement in our communication that is fair and future-oriented so that a conflict relating to the language barrier would not occur again.