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Personal Development Plan

Strength’s Quest and True Color Keystones

Based on the Strength’s Quest and true colors assessments, I am very adaptable to all different scenarios. I know that I am determined and will persevere through all trials to become the successful person I know that I can be. I think what makes me stand out from others is that I am very in-tune with people and I appear pleasant and put together. This makes me seem like more of a social person, which is vital for my future jobs and opportunities. 

My learning style has no set basis. I learn differently for each subject, but the only constant about all of my learning is that I need some form of interaction to retain the information that is being given. This could be in several forms: such as a lecture where I watch and listen to a professor while I write my notes, a lab setting where there are various activities to supplement the topics, or just in a real world setting where I must experience something firsthand in order to learn that lesson.

I think that my natural skill of sympathy allow for constructive advice and companionship. This is essential to making connections with others that benefit both them and I in many ways. I think that I do need to work on building these relationships, but more importantly, maintaining them.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Personal Relationships

The most important quality in healthy relationships is to maintain a sense of independence for yourself. The worst thing to do to both yourself and others is have the need to rely on someone else. I feel as though I am a very open person that people are willing to disclose personal aspects about their life to without fear of judgement. Although it can become toxic for me and the individual to be the only person that someone is talking to about their issues. Relying on others for happiness is not sustainable.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Professional Relationships

I think that I need to improve my public speaking. Although I am more adept at one-on-one conversations, I also need to build upon my communication skills. I am taking a communications class next semester in response to this realization. Also, presenting projects and just putting myself out there in front of others more is the best way to truly improve. I think that the best source of inspiration for me is to visualize what I strive to be and what I can be.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Associate’s Degree Completion

My transfer school is UVA, an extremely competitive school. I regularly meet with my learner mentor to ensure that I am doing the most I possibly can to put me on the right path for transfer. My learner mentor has helped by printing out the guaranteed transfer agreement between RBC and UVA and explained all of the criteria I must meet to fill the requirements. For a medical major, I must focus heavily on natural science classes. I also must maintain a 3.4 GPA. As of now, I am very confident in my ability to meet these goals.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Academic Success

I have improved my time management tremendously by going to the library. There is just something about it that makes me focus and be productive more so than anywhere else. For these two classes that I had most of my struggles in, I visited them and reached out quite frequently. I saw Professor Bupp about once a week at least for algebra advice. Many of my friends were willing to participate in study groups and help out especially with biology. I also took advantage of the Smarthinking online tutoring RBC offers. I used it to review my English papers, and received great feedback from the tutors on both content and grammar.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Financial Planning

My Associate’s degree will end up costing about $15-20K. I am paying for this out of pocket as to save myself from high interest loans too early. I have a budget that is very easy to live by as I do not wish to buy much for myself. I mainly just buy gas and pay for car insurance. This act of saving is essential for me when I transfer to a university. UVA is going to be extremely expensive with $50K a year for tuition and on-campus living, so I must save every penny I can right now.

Career Development Plan

I think that my personality and natural talents make me a great candidate to work in the medical field. I have patience and the ability to sympathize, which is essential for healthcare workers. The job I currently have as a CNA gives me great firsthand experience with patients and the feel of the job that is also manageable along with school. As I get further into my major, I will take training classes to become a higher level worker, such as a med tech, LPN, RN, and further.

College Transfer Plan

The program I want to study now is pre-med. UVA is my preferred transfer school, because they have the most opportunities for me. I will have to pay off loans right out of university, but my career choice and financial path should leave me with enough funds to do so. I am on the right track with the courses I am taking and the GPA I am aiming for.

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Looking Back...

The values that were important to me at the beginning of the semester have only strengthened as time went on. Being adaptable and able to persevere were the most significant ones to me. Along with attending college, I started a new job as a CNA. I had to adapt to the lessened time to study, be social, volunteer, as well as have free time to myself. But I did everything I could to continue to be a successful student. I started staying in the library to motivate myself to work, even when all I wanted to do was go home and sleep; I also started bringing my homework to work to study while on break. Along with this job came the sense of fulfillment of working in healthcare. I know that this is exactly what I want to do as a career now and in the future. Knowing this just makes me want to work even harder to get into a good medical program and go as far as I can. A value that I have learned this semester through college and my job is the importance of patience. It comes as a realization that things take time to work out, there is not always an immediate outcome. Patience is also the most important aspect when working with people who cannot help themselves. One of the values I wrote about that I am still aiming to achieve is to search for myself. Thinking back on the person I was at the beginning of the semester seems like it was years ago. have come so far already, but I have so much learning still to do.

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Role in the Group

My role in the group was to organize all of our ideas into cohesive slides. I work very well under pressure so I fixed last minute issues in the presentation. As a group, all of our ideas were equally represented and every person got a say in the final outcome. Our group project was mainly challenged by the lack of time we could dedicated to the project due to the workload of other classes and work. We were also faced with anxiety about presenting, as we are not the best public speakers. I feel as though I helped with this because I made sure we went over who spoke for each slide and what they would say. I also reminded the group that this was not supposed to be stressful, and that everyone we are presenting in front of can really be considered friends. In the end, we survived the presentation and the class, and we are all closer now because of it.

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Make A Difference Day

For make a difference day, I volunteered at the Dunlop House for Veterans Day. I work there so the residents only know me as a caretaker, but it was really eye-opening to have them see me as more than that. My role in the event was just keeping things running smoothly and making sure everyone was enjoying themselves. The event coordinator, Rachel, is amazing at planning these events and I really would not change a thing. All of the residents enjoy the lively energy and people they interact with during holidays. It was also heartwarming to talk to and honor the residents and guests that served. I hear about some of the resident’s military days while at work but this was a nice experience that allowed me to officially thank them.

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Group Biases

My team members each have their own unique, individual strengths that make them a valuable part of the group. Abby is very cheery and outgoing, which makes her a very nice speaker, as well as influence for the direction of the project. She came up with the original “bad students” idea which was very refreshing to hear because it was a strange concept, but a very good concept to display and explain. Jessi is extremely kind to everyone and intelligent. She is able to interpret her thoughts into concepts that can be explained well and followed through with. Haley is a good mediator for the group, which can be useful in reaching agreements about particular details among the group as a whole. I feel the most prominent issue that might arise during this project is just lack of time each of us can be dedicated to it. I think that each of us can contribute ideas, Abby is especially talented at this, while I could keep the suggestions organized. Haley would easily be able to combine these ideas to a comprehensive plan, while Jessi is great at encouragement. I believe that biases may arise, but overall we are a well-formed team with strengths to help us achieve our end goal for the project. In order to overcome these biases, it must be a team effort from each one of us to hold everyone accountable for their section of work.

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Current Aspirations

My goals for the future are pretty broad and constantly changing as I find myself understanding my true values in life. At this moment in time, I want to become a surgical doctor (I don’t know how long this dream will last though). This seems like a pretty strict job in regards to time so I am exploring the option of being a prn doctor and traveling across the country and maybe all over the world; I have always wanted to participate in a Doctors Without Borders type trip anyway. I do want to have a spouse and a family someday but that is not a priority as I am much more concerned about finding myself than searching for someone else. I hope to become someone who lives life carefree and say yes to opportunities that allow me to experience more. How I am going to accomplish these tasks is a much more complicated topic. Starting with my career, no matter what I plan to do in the medical field, I must complete my undergraduate, hopefully from UVA *fingers crossed.* If I want the burden of even more school and heaps of student debt, I will need to go to medical school, then complete a residency, and many more time consuming things that must be done in order to receive my medical license. After I complete that near decade of my life, I want to move to Washington, D.C. because I love the atmosphere, the political climate, and there are so many well-paying job opportunities there. It would also satisfy my need for adventure and travel because there is also something to do and so many diverse people to meet. I plan on using these opportunities to get the most out life and search for what truly makes me happy. During this period of my life is probably when I would also be looking out for a partner, and later settle down and start a family. I want to enjoy life as it happens and not feel so restricted about my future.

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How Will I Afford Student Debt?

The budget worksheet really put into perspective how expensive being an adult actually is. Currently, I receive all of my funding from my parents and I have never truly had to pay for anything myself ever. I understand the importance of creating a budget and sticking to it, especially when my pre-med loans are going to be too expensive for me to ever afford. Much of my budget must be centered around paying off student debt and a place to live on my own, without a lot to spend on anything else. When I first go out into the world alone I do not expect to live lavishly or even comfortably, maybe mediocre. But later on in life as I establish my career, I hope to live in a way that I don’t have to live paycheck to paycheck and I can put money into savings. Miscellaneous items and events are not important to me at all as I have been slowly converting to a minimalist lifestyle. I chose this because I want to appreciate everything I own and know that everything has a purpose; I also enjoy the freedom it gives me by not being burdened by things.

Although I value my future career, I also value traveling freely and I think that living in a city would provide me with enough adventure to quench that desire. I like the atmosphere of the city and I would pay more in general to get that experience all the time. I understand that I would need to be way more conscious with the way I spend and save my money to afford a city lifestyle, but I feel as though my future career would prospectively allow me to finance it.

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The StrengthsFinder assessment identified my top five strengths as context, empathy, consistency, harmony, and intellection. I think that these aspects help me concentrate even more on working towards my goals. I believe that consistency is one of the most critical attributes about myself especially in the context of the Signature Themes definition where I advocate for equal opportunity. I feel that I must strengthen my self discipline and give all my effort to achieve my goal because my accomplishments are not just going to be handed to me. The consistency trait also means that I must remain balanced and not put one goal ahead of the others, rather I need to balance each into my life. In regards to my goals of healthy eating and diet as well as getting considerably good grades, consistency will pay off as success. Applying my trait of empathy will also aid in my progress of eliminating foods that contain any animal products from my diet; I feel as though considering animals as equal to me would solidify the violation of rights that these animals experience. Context and especially intellection would help guide me in my journey to happiness and self awareness because they require introspection along with analysis of superficial conditions. The characteristic of empathy, harmony, and intellection would strengthen my purpose of volunteering. Focusing on harmony will reinforce team performance and relationships and intellection will enhance my personal skills I set out to obtain. Yet, empathy will keep my attention at the core reason for volunteering, to help those in need within my community any way I possibly can and bring a sense of unity.

Every single one of these traits seem critical in my future career goal of being a Registered Nurse, especially if I decide to pursue working in a critical care unit. Harmony would help me thrive as a member of a health care team and possibly act as a mediator to resolve issues or tension that arise in times of stress. Tapping into the intellection trait would help me assess and address stressful, fast-paced situations of daily work. This trait as well as context would help me evaluate situations and patient’s condition to find the correct route of care. Consistency would be important to maintain a balance among every aspect of my work and personal life; it would also strengthen my commitment to my job, but most importantly my patients. The trait of empathy would encourage this even more by reminding me why I chose this career path in the first place. Overall, all of these traits are valuable for my future and should be accentuated to their fullest potential.

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“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

My goals reflect the values most important to me and my future, in both personal and professional relationships. My most important goal of strengthening spiritual connections will be a lifetime in the making but the process aids in my journey of self acceptance and self love. Not only do I work on my physical body with yoga, I focus in on breathing which helps with controlling energy and emotions. I value my health greatly which is why another goal of mine is to eat healthier and gradually adopt a vegan lifestyle, as well as continue running a few mornings a week. As I become older I realize how detrimental farming livestock is on the environment, health, and the animals affected. I realize how precious every animal’s life is and cannot condone that type of animal cruelty anymore. As much as I appreciate animals, I also enjoy working with others and helping out in my community. My third goal would be to get involved in clubs on campus and volunteer at places such as my local food pantry, retirement homes, and animal shelter. I feel very humbled when working in teams to improve a situation for another being besides myself. My last goal is a short term goal that will prove to pay off in the long run. This goal is to get considerable good grades this semester; I am dreaming of all A’s. Ever since my senior year of high school I have taken my education seriously and I want to improve that even more this year and the rest of my educational career. I realize that I am very privileged to be able to get an education, especially a higher education and I never want to take that for granted. This is a valuable goal for me because it truly shows that hard work, dedication, and persistence pays off as success.

Some of the blue characteristics I possess that can assist me in accomplishing these goals are my inclination to nurture people, plants, and animals as well as being drawn to careers that reflect that. I firmly accept fairness and equality for others which leads me to want to help those who are in the most need. I believe I am fairly balanced in my life which can help me juggle everything coming my way. I also think of myself as capable and very determined to achieve the plans I set out and will persevere until they are completed. I feel like most of these values can be attributed to the fact that I am constantly in search of myself and true meanings and symbolisms in life through spiritual growth. I know that I am much stronger with the help of others though. A trait that I admire in the Green color code is that they tend to push themselves to improve. Oranges are what I aspire to be in a spiritual sense as in I want to be free, spontaneous, and more optimistic. Yellows would bring a great sense of organization and structure to my life which is always beneficial. They seem to be the most goal-oriented as well and see growth through the completion of tasks. I will take these traits into consideration when I meet people from now on and analyze who will help me reach my goals and how I can help reach theirs.

Quote by Henry David Thoreau

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“There is no blue without yellow and without orange.”

The first week of classes were not the most difficult experience of my life but it was definitely something that I knew must be adjusted to. The main characteristic of the blue color that defines this new adventure would be that I am adaptable. Realizing that I was independent and completely on my own was tough at first because I would have to motivate myself and have self discipline, something that is definitely not learned in high school. Over the course of the week I was able to find comfort in the school and classrooms through developing relationships with my peers and subsequently most of my anxiety subsided. This correlates to the blue characteristic of being capable and determined to persevere through the unknown and come out successful.

The values that I hold dear to me are ones I constantly radiate. I really resonate with the idea that I am in search of myself. Every encounter and self reflection leads to me become the person I am meant to be spiritually. Similar to this I feel as though I am very understanding of others emotions and actions, which lead me to want to help others realize their potential. I also tend to let my feelings drive my actions rather than rational thought. In some ways I am very idealistic, yet I feel as though it is crucial for me to strive for something better for myself and others. For this reason I feel inclined to get involved in causes and fight for equality and rights of every person and animal. I plan on pursuing a nurturing career in nursing and have some experience in my training as a CNA. It is extremely rewarding to care for people who need it most and I am content when I envision myself in this field. Although I am pretty happy with myself at this moment, I know that you can never develop if you remain stagnant.

p.s. The quote is by Vincent van Gogh. It seemed like a perfect fit for the activity we did in class.