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Tyran Hunt September 8, 2020 ENES662 Prof. James Green

Entrepreneurial Mindset Self-assessment

Prior to this assignment I never even truly took the six different evaluations into consideration. This is not my first time interacting with these evaluations either. Usually, it has always been for a quick assignment and nothing more. From an even broader perspective I never really knew that it would apply to something such as entrepreneurship. I guess I can honestly say I never took in how much these aspects really do or could apply to my life.

I now know that decision-making style, need for achievement, individualism-collectivism, locus of control, attention to detail, and optimism all play factors in me being an entrepreneur and how much they represent the distinct differences in entrepreneurs all across the world. These are differences that can be good and bad but In my opinion, they are what make us human. We have strengths and weaknesses in everything we do. My question is, how do I as an entrepreneur turn those weaknesses into strengths? Can you actually turn them into strengths or do you just make those weaknesses good enough to the point where they can’t be used against you?

I noticed that in the decision-making style assessment majority of my answers were pretty balanced. Thinking deeper, these results reign true in a sense. I’m usually more rational in terms of making decisions and weighing in all the factors that where there initially, currently and the ones that will arise once the decision is finalized. I immediately think about the more memorable decisions I’ve had to make in my life and how I handled them. I often take in the facts and logic of the task at hand and the decision in mind. My results are well balanced because I am never too far right or left (In reference to the scale). I like to follow my gut because usually, I have a keen sense making the right decision when my gut is telling me one thing but these “feelings” can be easily swayed when weighing in on the right facts and logic. I would say for me, I’ve always had a good sense of both. That’s not to say that I don’t make the wrong decision at times even after I weighed out the given factors. This usually can be because I decided to take a risk going against the logic that played into that decision. Even when I regret it, no matter how big or small the decision, I still feel at-peace about what I choose because I felt like it was the right thing to do at the time.

From an entrepreneurial point-of-view, I haven’t been put into half of the situations I’ve been in personally. I do not own any businesses so I haven’t felt that kind of pressure either but I can only imagine how much more detrimental it could be picking the wrong decision. When it’s personal, it’s most likely just yourself that it will have an effect on with maybe a few others. I think that when business decisions are on the line many people are at risk including employees and families. I also believe that when factoring decisions from a business perspective you have twice as many factors and logic to weigh in on than you would personally. There’s more input included in the choices to be made and you are at risk of stepping on someone’s toes if you chose the decision those people don’t agree with. It doesn’t even have to matter whether that was the right decision to make. Maybe this is a constant battle when put in the decision making role. I also do know that this what you sign up for initially when taking on such a task.

Something I’ve noticed about myself is that in these situations I feel the pressure from it far more than others would. I do not like making big decisions. Even the personal situations I’ve been in I heavily rely on the advice of others before proceeding. When I think of entrepreneurship decision-making I think of risk-takers and people who look to take emotion out of it, doing what’s best for the majority. I like to see everyone happy and am quicker to be selfless. It’s a blessing to have this humanistic value but a curse when it comes to weighing doing the right things over emotion.

According to my evaluation results, my intuitive decision style was one point higher than my rational decision making. I was not surprised by these results. I would say that there’s a pretty fair balance between the two. I’ve established this mindset when making any decision that is big or small. I always thought that being well balanced in this sense was highly contradicting but apparently it is not. This leads me to wonder what score from the evaluation would be contradicting and could it possibly even get to that point? Is it possible to score both high or low on either side of the decision-making evaluation?

It took me a little longer to grasp the concept of the need for achievement and understanding the self-leadership scale. Again, I never knew how important this evaluation was from any aspect until taking it. This idea that I had might play a role in why I score so low in all six components of self-leadership. I will admit this category is one of my weaknesses but I did not know I needed as much work as I do. When reflecting on the role self-leadership plays in my life and how crucial it is towards performing tasks, I can see why I scored so low. Firstly, I’ve always been the type of person to complete a task once I start and see it through. This is how I was raised and that alone is a big percentage of what motivates me to get through things. I think back to many times in my life where I finished through something with that self-leadership motivation alone and it turned out good or bad. No matter the outcome, deep down I was mildly satisfied because I created that mentality for myself to see things through.

I must also admit that I am a huge procrastinator. It’s one of my most toxic traits. I easily get distracted and lose focus often. This generally sways my motivation and influence I have progressing towards completing a task. I keep pushing it off, continuously putting a decline in the quality of that task. As stated before, it’s hard to come up with multiple occurrences from a business perspective where I had to apply these particular components but just thinking about personal tasks I could probably come up with a scenario for any given day. For example, during my undergraduate years here at the University of Maryland, my time management skills were poor and it was reflected in my work often at times. I would start off with really bright ideas for projects and essays that motivated me to put the work in. However, my priorities were everywhere which only influenced my procrastination to push things back further. That motivation and drive began to slowly fade away and become replaced with a bare-minimum mentality to do what I have to get by and live to make another work week. This mentality got me through much of my college days but I always knew I was better than just average. Over time and leading to this day I have been trying to change this toxic trait. When applying these same personal ideas to my goals of becoming a successful entrepreneur I know that mentality will not cut it whatsoever. I have honestly been trying to break away from such bad habits as well but it’s always easier said than done.

My core for the personal goal setting component was a 9. I typically set goals for myself in all the important aspects of my life. My biggest problem is It doesn’t bother me as much as it should when I don’t meet the requirements for accomplishing these goals. It’s a nasty attitude to

have because all the people I look up to have top-tier work ethic when driving for their goals. I often feel the need to work harder so I get the random motivation to set goals and work towards them but shortly after, I become complacent and fall off of the progression I had heading into completion. I need to push myself more but I can’t figure out how to sometimes. Would this toxic trait have anything to do with my passion for goal setting and accomplishments? When I do accomplish a goal that I set for myself it’s a very satisfying feeling but this alone does not influence me enough to go bigger or harder. I often find myself making high goals so that if I fall short I will still be satisfied. I am working hard through these nasty traits but again, easier said than done.

My mental practice score was a 7. I do usually mentally prepare to work through a task but I also like getting started and figuring it out as I go. I don’t plan well for “what ifs” when solving tasks and do my best to get through it when I get to that point. It’s not the most effective method but I have learned to use it efficiently. I am a heavy thinker so mentally preparing seems like it would discourage much of the motivation I have for pushing through tasks. This is not to say that I don’t do it but it’s not my primary operation if we are being honest. In business, I know that this is one of the many aspects to being successful and having a more manageable operation, so from that perspective, I know that I will be able to prepare and go through big tasks easily because that’s what needs to be done.

My designing natural rewards component score was a 9. I thought this would be slightly higher because I often incentivize my goal setting just so the accomplishment is worth the hustle. Reflecting on this idea alone, I think taking this approach more seriously would help me solve my problems as stated in the past two paragraphs. Even if this doesn’t completely resolve my issue, I feel it’s worth a shot. There’s only room for improvement. My only downfall to this component is I will settle sometimes and knowing that truth, makes me settle for less than what I set out for initially. It creates a mentality of rewarding effort rather than completion. What I also realized after this evaluation is changing up how I go about the task to make it more interesting. I honestly can say that I never thought of doing it this way. Even though it sounds like a fun and interesting way to complete tasks, I wouldn’t know how to go about doing so. Maybe I would have to be introduced to more scenarios to grasp a better understanding, but as for now I still don’t fully understand. This is not to say that I am not interested in that method though.

My self-monitoring component score was higher than others sitting at an 11. I would like to think I do a good job of keeping up with my tasks leading to my goals. If I take the time to map out an elaborate plan for reaching a particular goal or set of goals, then I manage better for sure. I think if I take this concept to a business perspective it would benefit me greatly. I believe that many successful entrepreneurs who have big goals immediately begin to set tasks or steps rather, that lead to accomplishing that goal no matter the time commitment. What do you do if you set a time-sensitive goal and you get stuck at one particular task along the way? This is one of my worries about this component.

Self-reinforcement is something I partially discussed a few paragraphs ago. I have become better at being disciplined over the years. I would like to credit that to maturity in many more aspects of my life than just one. I believe that once completed a task, you should reward yourself. Rewarding myself gives me a taste of satisfaction and a job well done. Consistently earning this feeling makes me want to continue to work for it. I believe everyone should get used to reward themselves. I also believe that there are some things that don’t necessarily need a reward for doing especially if it’s simple or something you have to do every day. It’s imperative

to have that control to wait until you complete the task before rewarding yourself. I would feel guilty for rewarding myself before a task is complete or I did the best I could do. “Half-assing” a task just for a reward also defeats the purpose of working hard for it. I can say that for myself, I have that much discipline to wait/work hard for it. Lastly, some things don’t necessarily need a reward given how big of an accomplishment was. The success itself can be rewarding enough for me. I think that if I set a far-fetched goal and I meet that goal, this success alone is all the celebration I need. I also do understand that everyone is different so you would have to take that aspect into perspective when dealing with business and colleagues.

The cueing strategies component of self-leadership got slightly confusing for me. From the description and evaluation, I believe this component refers to controlling how you go about completing tasks rather than an external factor. Now whether that external factor is something natural like time and scenarios versus actual people or hierarchy, I cannot decide. I can say that personally when I set particular strategies towards my goals I would prefer my strategies over anyone else unless theirs made much more sense than mine.

From an overviewing perspective, my self-leadership score was 58 points with 18 being the lowest and 90 being the highest. I am not saying I want my score at 90 but I think that my score can be higher with the right focus and practice definitely. Again I will say most of this is new to me so it’s going to take some work and discipline but I know that if this what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur then I am willing to do what it takes. I want to have that energy to be self motivated all the time without it being random. I have been working towards consistency with it and the sooner I get comfortable with it, the sooner I will be ready to take the next steps into owning my own business or doing business-related tasks.

My scores for individualism and collectivism were both relatively close to each other. For them to be so far apart in definition, It makes me wonder if my scores contradict each other. I take great pride in my individualism knowing that I have much to offer in many aspects. Knowing that I am different in many ways when working in groups or just being around multiple people is pretty reassuring at times. When I feel strongly about something, I like to be in control. I want to know the outcome was at my own doing and carrying this mentality works well for me. I don’t like relying on people for much because that brings in far more complications rather than just doing it yourself. This is not to say that I feel that I am better than anyone or know any more than the next man because I am far from either. However, I like to be independent when I can, especially if it’s something that I can easily handle or figure out on my own. It saves time for myself and those around me.

Working collectively has always been second nature to me. I’ve made lifelong friends out of random partnered class group assignments. Group work takes more work overall but it is truly a beautiful thing to see everyone working well together and ideas spewing over one another to come up with the best result. For me, knowing that there’s always gonna be someone that can help refine my idea or come up with a better one is very reassuring. I think that people come up with their most creative ideas and content in collective settings as well. You have to pay more attention to others. Their thoughts, feelings, and needs have to be approached differently. The only downside to having so many different people in the group, not everyone will agree or get along. With all the good, you have to embrace the bad too. I don’t like having to address the elephant in the room or be the mediator between controversy. If I feel like my perspective isn’t being considered or respected then it will make me want to keep quiet. I’ve been in both groups that are so different that we flourish and get things done and then ones where we could not go 5

seconds without disagreements. Each situation has its own circumstances but I am a people person and I’ve been blessed with much more patience than some so I understand. I would definitely say that my preference over collectivism and individualism varies on the particular setup. If we can get it done collectively, I would love nothing more than to share the load and reap the benefits amongst the group. I do understand that sometimes there are certain things that don’t involve a group and it is more convenient to get it done individually.

Understanding the difference between internal and external locus of control is interesting. According to my evaluation results, my score leaned more towards internal. Not only in the workplace but in life I am a firm believer that we are in control of our destiny. Plain and simple. The odds may be stacked against me but my actions and attitude towards that will beat those odds. Where I get to in life will be more because of what I did rather than the luck that I had.

My attention to detail score was pretty low. It’s no surprise that I am not meticulous. I’ve always been a bigger picture type of person. I miss out on certain details and I understand that it is what it is at times. I don’t miss things on purpose but I don’t beat myself about it when I do. This is also something I wish to be better at but don’t know exactly how to sharpen such a skill. It seems like for every small detail I catch, I will miss one with just as much importance.

My optimism score was pretty high and I would like to think I am very optimistic. I always try to look at the bright side of things. Even when I am hanging low and things are not looking too bright, I still try to stay level-headed and push through. I take no interest in being down or upset and try to uplift those around me every chance I get. I’ve learned so much about myself personally through these evaluations and I now know what I need to work on more. I don’t like that I didn’t have much of a business aspect to reflect on during this assignment but I am grateful for the experience and hope to gain the business experience needed to get things done.