Strengths
These are my strengths that were identified by StrengthsFinder by Gallup.
Achiever
"Your Achiever theme helps explain your drive. Achiever describes a constant need for achievement. You feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself. And by “every day” you mean every single day—workdays, weekends, vacations. No matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied. You have an internal fire burning inside you. It pushes you to do more, to achieve more. After each accomplishment is reached, the fire dwindles for a moment, but very soon it rekindles itself, forcing you toward the next accomplishment. Your relentless need for achievement might not be logical. It might not even be focused. But it will always be with you. As an Achiever you must learn to live with this whisper of discontent. It does have its benefits. It brings you the energy you need to work long hours without burning out. It is the jolt you can always count on to get you started on new tasks, new challenges. It is the power supply that causes you to set the pace and define the levels of productivity for your work group. It is the theme that keeps you moving."
Throughout my entire life, I have always held myself to the highest standard when it comes to academic achievement. I have been pushed by my family, peers, and mentors to succeed in school, sports, and everyday life. I have succeeded in meeting my personal academic goals by being on the dean's list all 4 semesters of college so far, while also maintaining many leadership positions in clubs and participating as a member in various organizations at John Carroll. Since freshman year, I have been a member of Carroll Ballers and have worked my way up from the position of a member to a position as a student leader of the organization. Along with that, I have achieved goals of giving back to the community by volunteering at University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center by helping nurses and physicians with patients by bringing them food and drinks, making their beds and getting them basic needs, and keeping patients company when preparing for surgery. It is necessary to achieve your goals and it is something that I strive to do everyday.
Discipline
"Your world needs to be predictable. It needs to be ordered and planned. So you instinctively impose structure on your world. You set up routines. You focus on timelines and deadlines. You break long-term projects into a series of specific short-term plans, and you work through each plan diligently. You are not necessarily neat and clean, but you do need precision. Faced with the inherent messiness of life, you want to feel in control. The routines, the timelines, the structure, all of these help create this feeling of control. Lacking this theme of Discipline, others may sometimes resent your need for order, but there need not be conflict. You must understand that not everyone feels your urge for predictability; they have other ways of getting things done. Likewise, you can help them understand and even appreciate your need for structure. Your dislike of surprises, your impatience with errors, your routines, and your detail orientation don’t need to be misinterpreted as controlling behaviors that box people in. Rather, these behaviors can be understood as your instinctive method for maintaining your progress and your productivity in the face of life’s many distractions."
Discipline is a trait that I am constantly learning everyday. Ever since I can remember, my parents have taught me how important discipline and routines are. During my life, I have built up daily routines that have made time management and order but easier each and every day. Having routines and plans each day helps me with getting things done and being productive throughout the day, rather than procrastinating. Along with that, I have learned that organization is key to keeping a simple and clean lifestyle. When individuals don't manage time and plan, they tend to be stressed and unable to accomplish their goals on time. Making plans and managing time in school, sports, and everyday life is a way of making sure I am never in a situation like that. This allows me to work little by little on each project over a span of a couple days and complete everything on time or early. Whether it is organizing notes in folders, doing morning routines, or properly managing my time, maintaining high order is a key trait of my personality and a reason why I believe in strong discipline.
Competition
"Competition is rooted in comparison. When you look at the world, you are instinctively aware of other people’s performance. Their performance is the ultimate yardstick. No matter how hard you tried, no matter how worthy your intentions, if you reached your goal but did not outperform your peers, the achievement feels hollow. Like all competitors, you need other people. You need to compare. If you can compare, you can compete, and if you can compete, you can win. And when you win, there is no feeling quite like it. You like measurement because it facilitates comparisons. You like other competitors because they invigorate you. You like contests because they must produce a winner. You particularly like contests where you know you have the inside track to be the winner. Although you are gracious to your fellow competitors and even stoic in defeat, you don’t compete for the fun of competing. You compete to win. Over time you will come to avoid contests where winning seems unlikely."
Competition is a fundamental aspect of everyday life, whether it comes to academics or sports. Throughout my life, I have viewed competition as a way to improve individually and see growth in others. I have always found myself to be in a competitive environment, whether it was playing basketball for my High School team and even academically as a student on the pre-medicine track. With competing on a daily basis in school, it has helped me maintain excellent work ethic and has helped me grow and surpass my peers academically. I also believe that other competitors that are better are vital to the development and growth of myself and can make me an overall better leader. Competition can be cruel and winning will not always be successful, but it brings out the best in everyone and is vital to growth and improvement.
Strategic
"The Strategic theme enables you to sort through the clutter and find the best route. It is not a skill that can be taught. It is a distinct way of thinking, a special perspective on the world at large. This perspective allows you to see patterns where others simply see complexity. Mindful of these patterns, you play out alternative scenarios, always asking, “What if this happened? Okay, well what if this happened?” This recurring question helps you see around the next corner. There you can evaluate accurately the potential obstacles. Guided by where you see each path leading, you start to make selections. You discard the paths that lead nowhere. You discard the paths that lead straight into resistance. You discard the paths that lead into a fog of confusion. You cull and make selections until you arrive at the chosen path—your strategy. Armed with your strategy, you strike forward. This is your Strategic theme at work: “What if?” Select. Strike."
Being strategic is another way of saying you are always one step ahead. It involves playing out various scenarios in your head and a mindset that can see and sense different patterns. This is a mindset that I strive to always have due to not wanting to be put in the wrong situation. Similarly to discipline, time management and maintaining order is vital with this leadership strength. As mentioned before, I focus on spreading out my school work throughout the week as well as studying for exams, and it pays off in the end with good scores. Along with that, being able to manage school work and a job is also a main priority in my life as being strong academically and financially is something that I strive for. Discipline and strategy are very similar in their traits, but are both vital to leadership and improvement.
Learner
"You love to learn. The subject matter that interests you most will be determined by your other themes and experiences, but whatever the subject, you will always be drawn to the process of learning. The process, more than the content or the result, is especially exciting for you. You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence. The thrill of the first few facts, the early efforts to recite or practice what you have learned, the growing confidence of a skill mastered—this is the process that entices you. Your excitement leads you to engage in adult learning experiences—yoga or piano lessons or graduate classes. It enables you to thrive in dynamic work environments where you are asked to take on short project assignments and are expected to learn a lot about the new subject matter in a short period of time and then move on to the next one. This Learner theme does not necessarily mean that you seek to become the subject matter expert, or that you are striving for the respect that accompanies a professional or academic credential. The outcome of the learning is less significant than the “getting there.”"
Learning is a vital part of everyday life. I have been taught that learning is not just about accumulating knowledge, but about having a genuine passion for the process of learning. This was a main reason as to why I chose to major in Biology and continue on the pre-medicine track, due to the love of learning different sciences. Although my major is very difficult, I chose it as I love the process of learning and sharing knowledge with my peers. I ensure that my studies in various subjects are well-rounded and my time to study is evenly distributed among my courses, and it has resulted in success in school. Learning is a lifelong commitment for growth and improvement, and involves passion and the love for learning, ultimately resulting in success as an individual.