Character

For today's class we were assigned a quiz to take that outlined our character strengths. I really enjoyed this quiz, I thought it asked a lot of really good questions, and I found myself eager to find out the results. After reviewing the results, I must say I wasn't very surprised by my top qualities. My top four were as follows,
                                             

These made perfect sense to me. I live my life in the most honest way I see possible. I chose to not surround myself with people whom aren't honest with me, or with whom I don't feel I can be honest with. Once someone I am close with betrays me when it comes to honesty, I tend to be very hesitant around them from then on. I also enjoy loving people blindly. This could be seen as a bad thing, but it's something I like about myself. I have a closely knit group of individuals who I love with my whole heart and I would do absolutely anything for them. As for the teamwork and leadership traits, I feel as though those go hand in hand with each other. All my life I have been a team player, whether in a sport, in the classroom, at work, or in relationships. Going off of that, I love to lead people. I have been the captain of numerous different sports teams growing up, from soccer in 7th grade, all the way to basketball my senior year of high school. I like to take charge of group products, and some of that comes from me liking to do things my own way, and not wanting to rely on others.

My bottom four made just as much sense to me. They were as follows.
                                         

I tend to live life at a constant speed, fast paced, and I fail to slow down and take a look around me. I rarely "stop to smell the roses," you could say. This is something that I would personally like to improve upon. I feel as though it is something that would improve my personal quality of life and make me happier. As far as self-regulation goes, I'm surprised this wasn't my last trait. I am the worst when it comes to self-control. I can't stay on a diet, I'm awful at going to the gym everyday, and I spent way more time than I should watching Netflix. As of the past month I have been doing a lot better in this area. I have realized that if I don't start improving upon it now, these habits will stick with me for the rest of my life and I will be unhealthy and lazy. Forgiveness is one of my greatest weaknesses. It ties into my stubbornness, which my mom always tells me will hold me back. I lost one of my best friends in high school due to her severely breaking my trust, and me not being able to forgive her. I hold grudges, and I dwell on things. Spirituality does make the most sense as my last trait. I am Catholic, but I haven't been to church in a long time, besides for a wedding. I did get confirmed, but I did that to please my Nana. Overall I found this quiz to be very enlightening, I was even tempted to download the full report, but of course I'm too broke for that.

Emotional Intelligence

Today in class, we talked about emotional intelligence. I really liked this class, because this subject is really interesting to me. I believe that emotional intelligence is definitely more important than an IQ is these days, especially in the field that we are going into. I have actually been thinking about this subject a lot on my own lately. I am going in for a job interview to Boston this week and I have been really nervous about it. I know that I am definitely not the smartest student in our major with the best grades, and this is something I'm very self-conscious of when I go on interviews. However, I feel as though I am very emotionally intelligent. I tend to relate well with people of all personalities, and I am very good when it comes to meeting new people. I know how to sell myself and i know what my strengths and weaknesses are. I feel like this is the attribute about myself that sets me apart from other people. I feel as when the time to be emotional is and when the time to keep it to myself is, which is important. If someone gives me feedback about a performance that upsets me, I take it in stride, thank them, and then let myself be upset later. There are times when I feel as though it is acceptable to be emotional, or vulnerable, as we've talked about at work. In my opinion though, it's more being vulnerable by putting yourself out there and taking risks then it is being vulnerable and emotional.

Mentor

Thursday night I finally had the chance to speak with my mentor over the phone, and she's great! We had a really nice conversation and were able to cover a variety of topics. She gave me a lot of great input when it came to preparing for job interviews. I have an interview coming up and I have had a lot of nerves about it, and she was able to help ease some of those nerves. We talked a lot about being prepared by researching the company before hand, and making sure to come up with some questions for the interview as well. She also gave me a lot of insight about choosing a company to work for, whether it be for the internship this summer, or a job in the future. We talked about how it is important that you can see yourself happily working for the company in all of it's aspects. It is important to make sure that you agree with the mission statement and that you have the same interests as the hospital or company that you're apart of. I really liked this advice because a lot of people that I know are miserable at their current jobs but they refuse to leave because they are so controlled by money. I feel as though you can always find a job where you can be happy, and making a living for yourself, if you work hard enough. We also spent some time talking about the structure of the class, we both agreed that the design is really cool and different, but can definitely be challenging. My mentor also had Professor Bonica as a teacher and we both agreed that it is very different to have him be the one who doesn't do most of the talking since he loves to tell stories and teach. I feel as though my mentor and I got along well, even though I was a little bit awkward over the phone, as I always am with new people. I am very grateful to have her, and she told me I could contact her by phone or email as often as I want, which I very much appreciate.

Teaching

      Yesterday I did my first presentation for our class, which was to teach on a subject of our choosing. As I explained in my last post, my group and I chose to do ours on Motivation. I was very proud of how our class went, we knew our information, and I believe that we came prepared, and were able to present in a way that the class could learn. I am glad that we had some time left at the end of the class so that we could receive some feedback. I believe that it's always important to receive constructive criticism, especially if you're trying to improve upon something. The feedback that we received will greatly help us when we are preparing to teach our next class. The responses that I took the most from were those saying that we should try and find a way to get more engaged with the rest of the class, and that we should also maybe try and find a way to connect our presentation with the health care industry, seeing as how we are a healthcare related class. I enjoy having the chance to present in front of others. I don't get nervous doing it, and I think it is extremely important to get as much practice in while we are in school as possible, so that when we eventually get jobs, we are seasoned and poised. One thing that I will say is that I can really sympathize now with teachers when nobody in the class will participate. There were times in our presentation when one of us would ask a question or ask for someone to share, and the audience was silent. This is not only frustrating, but it is also awkward, especially when you base certain parts of a lecture off of participation.
      In other news, I am preparing for my first phone call with my mentor, Konni, tonight. I am very much looking forward to it. We have been having problems getting in touch with one another, due to a time zone difference that neither of us had noticed. I am hoping to maybe get some inspiration from her on what to give our next presentation on, or even some information about motivation that I can use while writing our chapter for the primer.

Motivation

Motivation is an interesting subject that can be a factor in whether or not people are successful. For class on Monday, my group and I are doing a presentation on this subject. We are asking everyone in the class to take a quick online quiz that rates how motivated they are, and then gives a quick description of what their results mean. I myself took the quiz and I got a 31, and the results were as follows.


The other thing that we are asking everyone in the class to do is to write down a list of the top five things that motivate them to do the important things in their lives, as well as a list of the top five things that distract them from accomplishing things. I am excited to do this exercise because I am curious to see if we all share a lot of commonalities. As of right now my list for motivation would be as follows:
1. Excitement/something to look forward to
2. Money
3. My future
4. My family/friends
5. My self-image

The top five things that distract me right now would be:
1. Netflix
2. Hanging out with friends
3. Being tired
4. Being homesick
5. Being lazy/bored

I find it personally really hard to be motivated to do things unless I am truly excited about it. I tend to procrastinate and be lazy most of the time which is something I really need to work on. That is one of the reasons I am so excited to be doing a lesson on this subject so that I can hopefully teach myself something useful in the process.

Actions that Follow You

This blog post may seem to be a bit off topic to some, but I feel as though it is of importance. Last night many people across campus watched the Patriots win the Superbowl. For most this was an exciting historic win, and so as years previous, UNH students took to the streets. The behavior I saw there seriously appalled me, not by everyone but by enough people. It was as though certain people forgot who they were or what the normal rules of society were and they felt as though they could do whatever they please without owning up to what they were doing. I saw cars get smashed, trees get destroyed and more importantly, I feel, physical harm. I myself was a victim of this last night, and it is what has got me thinking. One day, soon, we are all going to be in what is called "the real world" and actions like these will come with severe consequences. Not only can jobs fire you for such atrocious behavior, but new jobs can refuse to hire you. Most jobs have a code of conduct involved. It is to make sure that wherever you are and whatever you're doing, you are representing your workplace in a good manner. A company doesn't want bad publicity due to their employees, just like UNH doesn't want bad publicity due to their students. I feel as though it is important to note that your actions will follow you around. It is time that we as a community and a generation grow up. Our future employers will expect better from us, and our school and our peers deserve better from us. Rant over.

New Team

For most of my life I have been a part of a team. Whether it be a sports team, a friendship, or a relationship, I am very used to this aspect of life. I have always loved being a part of a team, there is always something to look forward to, or something to work on. As of yesterday, our class HMP 722, officially became a new team in my life. It is going to take a lot of hard work to really get to know each other and be able to rely heavily on one another. All of the best teams that I have ever been a part of ended up being a group of my closest friends. I'm not saying that this means everyone in our class needs to become best friends, but it definitely helps teams grow when they get to know one another better, in my personal opinion. We have a long road ahead of us, but I believe that our final project is going to be really cool in the end. It will be something that none of us is familiar with, but in the end it will be something we can all be truly proud of. One other thing that I have grown to know about teams is that it is important for leaders to be present. In middle and high school I played on a club soccer team where I was captain for five years. I was also one of the captains of my basketball team my senior year of high school. This leadership role allowed me to not be in charge, or boss people around, but to lead by example and with positive encouragement. I believe that as our class moves forward leaders will emerge automatically. It is possible that we will have numerous leaders, and that is more than ok. This post ties into what we learned a bit about last year with the first follower video, meaning a great leader is only as great as their followers. Nobody is able to lead a group of people if no one in that group is willing to follow them. This applies to all aspects of life whether you are simply on a sports team, a CEO of a hospital, or even the President.