PDP Part C: SMART Goals

Part A - Self Reflection

I have always known that I was a complex and diverse being but I never had much insight into certain aspects of myself and my personality in the past – until now. In my childhood my dad used to take me for swimming lessons. I had a major fear of water and it took me twice as long as the other kids to learn it – but I overcame my fear after some persistence. My dad encouraged me and the courage he gave me stays with me to this day. My parents also showed me the importance of love and family, especially through some hard times where we had conflict with some close family. Those hardships taught me to keep my family close and treat everyone with respect and have helped me in my relationships now with friends and family.

My Big Five test was very insightful. I was not surprised to find that I ranked higher in agreeableness and ranked low in conscientiousness (specifically responsibility and organization) – I have always found it challenging to remain organized and meet deadlines on time but I am getting better at this with practice! However, I was definitely surprised that extraversion was one of my highest scores – I consider myself a shy person and perhaps I need to give myself more credit in my social abilities and my ability to interact with people. I also found it interesting that the descriptions for the fields I scored higher in all described my music tastes perfectly. Overall, my biggest takeaway from this test was appreciating my ability to interact with people in a considerate and friendly way and I will make sure that my profession will involve regular interactions with people as this is something that I am skilled at and enjoy. For example, fields in business with a regular social aspect such as marketing or management might suit me better than something more isolated such as product development.

My professional goals involve me working to realize my full potential and maximizing my ability to excel in my future career. My first goal over the next year or two is to further improve my ability to communicate with others and identify with them in a compassionate way since this is a crucial skill in today’s work environment. By trying to talk to strangers more and meeting new people, I can practice this skill and even learn more about my extraverted tendencies and abilities. Secondly, I am going to work hard on improving my low conscientiousness score by improving my organizational skills with methods such as bullet journaling, keeping a calendar, and setting reminders on my phone for school deadlines. By doing these tasks I can improve my sense of responsibility towards school and stay on top of my work – something that I know will improve my ability to succeed in my future career as well.