Week Two Writing Assignment

Draw upon Chapter 1 “Vision and Quick Victories” to define your own Long-term vision and the Short-term Goals for getting there.
Use the questions on pgs. 27 and 28 for ideas, but what you want to do is describe your hopes and dreams for the future,
and the various steps along the way that will help you to achieve them.

Dennis Perkins mentions on page 26 how "Winning leaders cultivate the ability to monitor the condition of each person on the team and to sense when individuals are becoming overwhelmed." This is a really important lesson for me too, as one of my long-term goals is to collaborate with people of various backgrounds and age groups, in the future. Whether this will evolve into the form of a counselor, teacher, consultant, or some kind of colleague, I can't say for sure. My dream is still very vague, but it definitely includes a lot of interaction and encouraging others!

My first short-term goal leading up to this would be to better understand the people around me: what makes each person happy and sad? In order to do this, I am trying to place myself in different environments and interact with as many people as possible. For example, in addition to going to our super diverse university, I work at an English cram school. I love doing team teaching, which is where I pair up with a native teacher and we teach students together in the form of an active group lesson. I don't have a fixed class so I get to work with teachers and students who have different styles and needs. It's difficult to figure out how I should place myself in the classroom and where I should assist, but it feels great to find qualities to praise and to see students enjoying themselves. Of course, every class does not always go so smooth and sometimes I may not be on the same page as the native teacher, but I try to take all of this as an important learning process.

Also, I try to notice what makes me happy. I think it's important to figure out how I can manage my stress well for my own good and as a leader, to steer a group back to a positive route. Simple things like a walk outside, the smell of freshly baked bread, or a chat at Starbucks can lift my mood. When I feel particularly distressed, I talk to people like my mom, friends,and a counselor at school. I take their encouragements to my heart and sometimes, when a friend consults me, I may refer back to their words. I don't think it's possible to completley understand myself. But to be able to "sense when individuals are becoming overwhelmed," I need to get to be able to do the same for myself too!

See you all tomorrow :)