Personal Reflective Essay: Overcoming Obstacles

When I chose Psychology as my major, I was certain that I will be applying for graduate school in the future. The only problem was figuring out what psychology field I wanted to go into. While not knowing, I was still working to create a well-rounded resume by seeking experiences and develop new skills. That helped me a lot when I decided to go into Occupational Therapy as my graduate program. I felt like I was prepared mentally and that I had a good list of experiences under my belt. Nevertheless, the process of applying to graduate school is scary because of the fear of rejection. I need to stay positive and confident in myself knowing that I have done everything in my power to become a competitive applicant. Like everyone else, I have my

My qualities and characteristics have always been to do the best that I can at everything,

The one I identified with the most was the tenth characteristic in which Lake and Baeyer talked about time management. I find that this attribute is valuable to me because of how I have used it in the past. Managing

One of them being conscientiousness. Conscientious people are very driven and orderly. They set goals and firm plans to achieve these goals. Rarely are they spontaneous or disorganized. My score within the Big Five Personality Profile was moderate for conscientiousness. I would say that I do exhibit some of these characteristics. I can be very organized and reliable. As a weakness, I find that I am not always a self-starter. I will set goals and stick to them, but need that push from others to get started. For instance, I was given the opportunity to work on an exciting new project at work that involves direct feedback from employees that I would personally deliver to upper management. This would be a big responsibility as I would be representing hundreds of employees and voice the current concerns of our group. I was asked to think it over. While processing the position, three others volunteered and I lost out of the opportunity. I took my time and wasn’t as organized in my decision making, therefore I missed out greatly.

While I appreciated that one of my peers provided feedback on my work, I feel that the feedback that was provided did not fulfill the assignment. My peer did not provide detailed feedback on my paper that could be adequately incorporated in my review and revisions. Most of the information that was provided as feedback were simply statements that reiterated what the prompt question was. Please see the below feedback provided to me by my peer.

My top strength identified was the Achiever theme. Achiever describes the need for constant achievement. Achievers have the capacity and the drive to keep taking on new challenges and strive toward new goals (Rath, 2007). This description is accurate in that I enjoy a new challenge and like to keep busy working towards anything with some sort of successful outcome. I welcome the opportunity to do something better, more perfectly, or more complete which motivates me to a higher level (Rath, 2007).

Each and every person is different, as is their character, but the character can reveal many characteristics about that person’s life. I believe that I have valueable charcter. Some examples include: determination and diligence. If I set my sight upon a goal I know I can reach, I don’t stop until that goal ss within my grasp. Staying focused on a goal is important,but investing time and effort to finish tasks is also important. When there are certain tasks assigned to me I don’t sit and procrastinate especially if I know that people are relying on me. If I am to be accepted into NHS I believe that I can influence others to never give up and always stay focused on their

The first characteristic I exhibit is persistence. It is important because I cannot quit on myself , or those dependent on me when I encounter failure. Whichever way failure presents itself , I must repeatedly change what is preventing me from succeeding and attempt the task again. I most commonly exhibit this characteristic during physical activities. For example , during swim season , I will repeatedly attempt to beat personal records without being discouraged when I only take a quarter of a second, or none, off my time. This shows persistence because I continue to attempt to succeed despite repeatedly failing in the past.

My most outstanding quality is my ability to handle adversity. Adversity is something that comes at different times and in different sizes. One common theme is that adversity/obstacles always happen when you do not expect it. My ability to take obstacles as they come and handle them responsibly and in a mature manner, is what makes me a strong person/leader. My characteristic that I perceive as my personal weakness is being too closed off. I do not make decisions using my emotions, instead I use logic and reasoning. This is not always a good thing when dealing with people, and it is something that I am capable of working on and improving. In my experience, being closed off is not something you change in a blink of an eye. In order to compensate

I’m a persistent person, which means that I have the willingness to dwell with particular tasks until I found it satisfactory. I can spend a lot of time to do researches before I begin to writing. I have to make sure that I already read adequate resources and really understand about the topic that I want to write. Furthermore, it helps me to gain interest in the

I don’t like to give up when things get tough. I like to stick things out until it is over if I made a commitment to it. I have had jobs in the past where I was so frustrated with what I was doing, but I learned to put my opinion aside and stay persistent to finish the job. Becoming persistent in tasks hasn’t always been my strong suit. It has been because of my parents that I learned to master this strength. My parents never let me quit anything I was committed to until it was finished. Not only am I persistent to get finished with a task, but also when I am reaching goals. I will do just about anything to get to my goal. If I don’t have the resources laid out in front of me, I make them. When I want something, I don’t stop until I have what I want. I give my all and more to finish tasks and reach goals. My persistence has made me feel grateful for the accomplishments I have made and the new matters and skills I have learned. I have learned to keep my negative opinions to myself when given a task that is strenuous because every word I breathe out that is negative about my task is only setting me back instead of moving me closer to

I do think I am a task related or goal oriented person. I am very good at building relationships while working towards a common goal. I am good at explaining the benefits while making the work seem less like a job. I typically have a planner or some sort of outline for what we are doing.

Through my personality and learning style I am able to identify a couple of personal strengths and weaknesses. My learning style is a combination of visual and auditory learning, so I am able to learn better with images as well as learning through discussions. Discussion helped me to identify one of my strengths as I am open-minded I am able to listen and see others perspectives on a topic. Whereas my personality shows my weakness as I am an introvert I do not tend to speak up on my ideas or thoughts in discussions.

A second characteristic is the aversion to depending on others. I have found that in group projects, I would much rather complete all the work instead of relying on others to contribute because I know that it will be completed correctly and satisfactory. Again, regarding to living with roommates, as frustrating as it can be to be the only one cleaning and making sure the apartment is somewhat presentable, I believe that it is the only way that it will be done properly and to my standard.

During the course of the quarter, I feel that I have progressed somewhat. I've gained a lot of knowledge on rhetorical strategies and how to present arguments effectively. In the writings I have written, I feel that each writing works towards meeting the course goals. Logos, ethos, and pathos were strategies and ideas we were introduced to (if not already in the past) and were built upon throughout the quarter. The knowledge gained over the course of the quarter weren't only those three types of appeals. Rhetorical strategies like proposals helped reinforce the course and using rhetorical analysis in different situations have become easier throughout the quarter. I believe that I have made sufficient progress towards becoming a better