Wheels of Fortune!

Beth: Beth has always been the type of person that is a hard worker and is willing to do anything that she can to help out. One of her greatest strengths is her personality. She is willing to talk to anyone and she can do it effortlessly.

Ben: I have never worked with Ben on anything directly and I am glad this has given me the chance to. Ben is much more persuasive then I realized and he likes to try to think outside the box with new possibilities. Ben is great at being willing to go that extra step in order to complete a task or goal.

Blair: At the end of the day if something doesn't make sense Blair is going to vocalize it and make sure that we all get on the same page. With this challenge it is good that Blair has been willing to try to get out of her comfort zone and do what is best for the team.

Cameron: Cameron is great with checking in with everyone and letting us know when he is available to do more. When the rest of us can’t do something Cameron is more than willing to step up and do what he can.

For me one thing that I fall short in is definitely taking the time to let someone know that they have done well. As a group I feel like we are encouraging and applaud each other’s efforts but I could do more. Many times we get focused on the end goal so much that we don’t take the time to admire the journey that it takes to get there. I am proud of my team and I look forward to all that we will accomplish together.  

Church with Alexia!

I'm writing this from the perspective of being able to take someone on a cultural experience. As a group we ended up not all being able to do something but I was glad Alexia joined me at a church service. I am a Christian, in Cleveland I attend a Pentecostal church but in Columbus I attend one that is Baptist. Both churches are predominately African American. 

With cultural experience that you are used to most people take it for granted knowing the "norms" or what is socially acceptable. Kyle and Alexia asked me what they should wear. I realized that I should have included this when I first asked them to go. I take for granted knowing that I can go to church, particularly black ones and know what to wear. 

The day of I knew that I had to "warn" Alexia about what to expect once she got to church. Every week first time visitors are asked to stand and after that everyone fellowships and greets one another. I had to let her know that people were going to welcome her and everyone around hugs you regardless of if they know you or not. Something else is that amount of time were are in church. It starts exactly at 10:45 am and goes until about 1:15 pm. This is normal and a good time for me, I'm used to being in church longer. Something else that stands out is the excitement that goes along with service. From the choir doing praise and worship on to the sermon you are having a good time. Alexia was surprised everything wasn't monotone. Lastly with her coming I knew she wouldn't be the only non black person but I don't remember seeing Asians. It's funny that we noticed four other Asians that we could see. Overall I was glad she seemed to have a good time and wouldn't mind going again. 

Retreat

Refusing to let it get the best of me…

Understanding the sources of why I am stressed has its pros and cons. When I think about why I am stressed from being involved to having a particular course load I hate putting the blame on others. It is easy to be stressed out when you do not feel an instructor is adequately teaching a course or things come up during time you have planned to study. I have found that I get more upset with myself for not getting done with certain things sooner and letting a workload pile up. I stress myself out every day when I have not accomplished all that I have set out to.  When I do not get something done as planned that then gets pushed back into the next day, I then have to keep thinking about it every time I think of all I still need to do which adds to more stress.

I manage stress a lot of times by finding an escape and getting out of my own thoughts by concentrating on something else. I love to read and that is a great outlet for me.  I can get consumed in someone else’s life then return to mine. I also never have time to watch television shows when they come on, being able to take a few hours and catch up helps as well.

Being more productive in the manner I want I think will help. I get upset when things do not meet my expectations. With life not being predictable I need to take time to let more things roll off and not let it consume my thoughts. Being an introvert most of my ways to relieve stress are solitude activities like reading but at some point getting away helps. Going shopping with friends, just hanging out, going to church etc. are also things that help me not be as stressed out. Its good talking to everyone around me and us having the commonality that we are all overwhelmed at times.

Success...A Lonely Road?

My definition of success has changed in many ways. I use to believe that my success completely depended on me and my capabilities. I thought that success was something that I needed to achieve in every area of my life in order to feel like I was accomplishing something. Many times for success we compare ourselves to others, try we set attainable goals and strive for excellence.

I have heard the expression “It’s not about the destination but the journey” a lot. With the way I view success, I appreciate all the little things that build up but if my end result is not something that I am proud of or I felt I could do better then I am not happy nor do I feel successful.

My view of success is much more inclusive now. My success is affected by those around me much more than I ever realized. I am who I am because of all that I am able to learn and take in from others. I am very intrinsically motivated and tend not to want to depend on others. For me to be successful I want to achieve all that I can but never lose contact with those around me. I want to continue to have a need to want to give back and make others’ lives better. Being in business I definitely want to climb the corporate ladder but not at in a way that compromises who I am. I want the best of both worlds and have a work life balance.

In a “hypothetically situation” I could see my view of success being different from others if I had to sacrifice my beliefs in order to become part of an organization or work better with a group. I have been in this position before but I refuse to be less of who I am or change in ways that I do not want to. The best way to get around doing is I would simply remove myself from the group if I could.   

Using Leadership Skills

Initial Challenge Reaction

With all of the excitement, anticipation and speculation that had built up regarding the challenge assignment, I was pleasantly surprised when we were finally told. I figured our challenge would be complicated, but not on this level. I love the thought of being able to give back and potentially help the Goodwill...I also don't want to fall short of actually making an impact. Convincing people to donate vehicles seems like a daunting task but on the bright side there were a lot of vehicles in the lot so clearly there has been some success in the past. It helped being able to see in person the results of what our work could be.

Even with all of this, as soon as we were told I really wanted to know who was on my team. I immediately started thinking of ways that we could progress and wanted to share with the group. But of course in the back of my mind I keep hearing "It's a competition". The competition aspect of it all makes it more fun and appealing.

I am very analytical in the way I think and how I progress in accomplishing goals. While having no experience in getting people to make large donations I think I am connected to people that I can reach out to that will help out. I can be vocal in my options and I can find away to sum up everyone's thoughts around me to make it more cohesive and productive. The skills that I would like to develop in this challenge center around creativity and being more extroverted. I am some that really doesn't like being in constant communication with people and possibly receiving a lot of rejection. Being creative is something that we will all need to effectively progress in this challenge. I am looking forward to thinking outside of the box.

Summer Break...

I wanted this summer to be very defining for me. I do not like the feeling of not being able to envision what I want to do with the rest of my life when it pertains to my career. I get asked all of the time if I plan on working at NASA seeing as how I have interned at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland for five years. I am still trying to figure so much out that I cannot give a complete response to that.

At NASA I work at the NASA Safety Center primarily assisting my mentor managing a $15M budget. This summer has been different than previous years because my mentor spent a lot of time out of the office. Due to this I was literally responsible for making a lot of decisions on my own that could have had serious consequences if I was to mess up. This could possibly be my last summer at NASA so I really wanted to continue to contribute as much as I can back to an agency that has played a large role in making me who I am. All in all things worked out. I was able to spend the summer meeting with different people at NASA to get their opinions and advice on different paths I might like to take.

Going between work, church and home I have not done much that was very exciting. A vacation or even a few days off longer than the weekend would have been amazing but that is not going to happen. This summer was vital for me to have when it came. My life has changed a lot in the past 6 months. This summer gave me more time to reflect and bounce ideas off of some amazing people. While I still have not gotten everything settled yet I have more ideas on how I want to move forward and more goals I would like to obtain.