Professional Develpment plan-please use attached files

Knowing Your “Why” - Self-Assessment

Anser Pierre Louis

Walden University

Knowing Your “Why” – Self-Assessment

Identifying Your “Why”

Earning my doctorate degree was something that I only could dream of as a kid. I grew up very poor being one of five children in my family whose mom dropped out of middle school and father only earned a high school diploma. Now that I have completed my master’s degree, I want to finish the goal that I originally set out to accomplish. I want to show people that it does not matter where you came from or what other people say, if you have the determination, you can do anything that your heart desires no matter what obstacles you may face along the way.

Personal SWOT Analysis Results

As I was completing the SWOT analysis, many of the topics I was categorizing continued to fall under either the strengths or the opportunities category. This is something which initially concerned me, as I wanted to ensure I was not taking a biased approach just to showcase how amazing I wanted to appear to others. I re-evaluated every topic under each section thus solidifying that I was taking a true assessment of myself from a holistic perspective. There were a few topics that did end up falling within the weaknesses and the threats category, but the majority of the topics were primarily focused on the left side of the table.

Strengths

Some of the items I had categorized under strengths were things that I felt I either had a good grasp on or are within my limits of control. These items within this area included the flexibility of my schedule to allow accomplishing more deadlines, the ability to devote at a minimum of 20 hours per week for this program and my passion for learning something new.

Weaknesses

Identifying weaknesses is something that was challenging as showing your weakness to others forces them into a state of vulnerability which rang true when it came to myself getting brutally honest with where some of the items needed to be categorized in. One of my weaknesses included my inability to ask for help, which is something that I have been focusing my efforts on. The other two weaknesses had a cause and effect relationship, these included my desires to overcommit on multiple projects which then causes me to procrastinate on other important things.

Opportunities

This section was one filled with the support team that I have built around me who have mentored me or helped me along my journey. From actual family to work family, they have been there to create time for me to study, quiet time to test or even having discussions about my most recent paper in order to push through the writer’s block I was experiencing at the time.

Threats

Oddly enough, a few of the topics that fell into this category also fell into the opportunities category as well. The topic was competing for my time. I have many people competing for my time and attention every day of my life like supervisors, subordinates, coworkers, friends and family. Although they can be very helpful at times, they are my biggest distractions as I know that I play an intricate role in their lives.

Formulating Goals and Strategies

Goals

There are many goals that I have set out to accomplish in conjunction with completing my DBA. One of the goals include transitioning out of the education field and experiencing finance from a local government perspective or even a private sector. Another goal that I have is to complete this DBA program within the 3-year timeframe that was spelled out by my enrollment advisor prior to committing to the program. My last goal is to hold a leadership role on a local project that gives back to the people within my community.

Strengths and Challenges

The three greatest strengths of mine would have to be my time management skills, perseverance and attention to detail. I am a person that takes a task head on, and I tend to work long hours and devote a lot of my attention to the task at hand as I believe that the products that you submit are a direct reflection of yourself. I hold myself in high regard thus I strive for perfection in all that I do. Sometimes this has led to the reasoning behind my weaknesses.

The three challenges I need improve on in order to reach my goals are to refrain from spreading myself so thin, stress on things outside my span of control and don’t procrastinate. I tend to have a heavy workload, but I still want to provide the best product. The best way to guarantee this, is by ensuring that I do it myself at times. This is where I end up working long hours, spreading myself too thin. In regards to procrastination, although I have seemed to curb this issue during my Masters, I am still mindful about this being a problem in the past. So I want to ensure to mitigate it as much as possible.

Self-Assessment for Overcoming Challenges

A strategy that I intend to use to assist with my desire to spread myself so thin with various things, is to utilize the work life balance schedule that my supervisor and I have devised. This is where I work an 80-hour flexible schedule essentially building my own schedule as long as the deadlines were still met, which allows me to focus on school when I need to. The strategy I will utilize to overcome stressing on things that are not within my span of control is to focus more of my efforts on the things that I can control. On the issues I may experience outside my span of control, I would try seeking help for these items from others within my support team. The last strategy that could help with my weakness to minimize procrastination would be to write everything down on a combined calendar this will give me a better feel for what lies ahead.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that my DBA will allow me as well as others many opportunities for positive social change within my community, but I want to primarily focus on the helping immigratns. This is something that not only hits home for my family and I, but seeing the hardships that immigrants both young and old are experiencing in today’s times continues to touch my heart.