Reflection: Connect to Self

Our strengths and weaknesses develop and change over time. I've learned a lot about mine since my initial encounter with the Clifton's Strength Test my freshman year.

I’m Isabelle, a junior majoring in environmental studies. I am also minoring in geology and Spanish. My SLE focuses on my student work here on campus, primarily my job at Season’s Harvest and Dogwood Garden, and my off campus community involvement with Rome’s local food initiatives. I’m passionate about food security and its impacts on communities and my SLE has given me first hand experience tackling relevant issues in the Rome community. This experience has helped me to better use my passion for food and sustainability in a practical way while also getting to spend even more time in the garden and alongside great people. I’m passionate about creating a sustainable future and teaching others what that looks like. I’m looking forward to continuing in my student work positions and in the local Rome community that I call home.

Self Assessment

One of my greatest strengths is my passion and I believe it is what drives me. Often times though I find it difficult to narrow down my passions which can be overwhelming when trying to make decisions or when trying to focus on how best I can use my passions to serve others. This can also manifest in me not being able to relinquish control when working on projects because I have the goal of them being the best that they can, but I don’t realize that without others I can’t achieve that goal. I’ve worked to become better at delegating and narrowing goals and projects down by prioritizing. I have learned overtime that I do enjoy organization though which has helped my delegation skills and made me a better leader.

Clifton's Strength Analysis

According to my Clifton Strength Test my top five strengths are as follows achiever, learner, deliberative, responsibility, and significance. I’ll start with achiever to elaborate on the significance of each of these strengths. An achiever is constantly seeking achievement, every day is a work day that drives them to accomplish as much as possible in order to find fulfillment. This strength offers discontent when goals aren’t achievable, but also provides the power to work tirelessly through obstacles. Learners are driven by interests. The process of learning and researching allow for growth in dynamic, fast paced work environments. Continuing deliberatives are careful and private with an understanding that the world is ever changing. This strength allows for anticipation of change and create a cautious approach to life. Responsibility creates ownership and commitment. The standards are high and excuses are not acceptable, conscientiousness is important. This moral high road can cause problems however when dependability and willingness are taken advantage of. Finally, significance develops a drive for recognition and passion for finding a job that has a purpose higher than financial gain. This strength keeps the magic in reaching for goals alive. Together these strengths are telling about motivations and setbacks for myself.

The Clifton Strengths Test is, or was for my BCC group, such a telling, useful required activity. Looking back on my freshman self I can definitely see why these strengths were considered my signature themes. I think that they are still true, all be it in a different light. My freshman self was a different path than my current self, but both have similar intentions with wanting to create a positive change in the world. I will say that although I feel that my current self is assured in what I want to pursue because of a found passion, my freshman self was very assured in the path I wanted to go on where as I’m currently struggling with that.

Considering the summarized definitions I assigned each of the strengths I think that my previous statement shouldn’t be of surprise. I’m very passion driven with hopes of creating change, but I do see some of those setbacks of my strengths presently. I do at times get in over my head because I get overly excited and volunteer for more than I should, I work really hard on researching the importance of a topic, but then fail to actually use that information for anything productive, or have trouble concluding my day because it felt like I hadn’t completed enough of my tasklist. Those struggles are manifested in becoming overwhelmed because I’ve volunteered myself to different community organizations and realized that I only have so many hours in the day or spending my whole Saturday working on class work to still feel like I could have done more with my time that day. At the same time my strengths are my strengths for a reason, they push me to be passionate and to follow those passions. I’ve been able to help others and find something that brings be abundant joy because I pushed myself to work hard.

Out of the collective strengths presented I feel as though achiever and responsibility are the most descriptive of my current self. I’m very goal oriented and surround myself with task lists and seek out ways to pursue my passions. I am however hard on myself and others. I feel as though that since of responsibility is especially heightened when it comes to work, I was placed in a high position towards the end of my freshman year with little preparation and it has made me realize that I would never want someone else to stumble around as much as I did. I also feel like responsibility and achiever go hand in hand because I strive to put my best forward because my name is attached to that piece of work. What is the point of doing something if you don’t attempt to do the best that you can? My achiever strength is definitely used the most frequently out my strengths in my opinion although I feel like others may say otherwise based on my interactions.

My strengths have encouraged me to pursue my passion for communities and food security which has developed in my work with local food initiatives, more specifically my work with Rome Food Oasis. During the past semester I did extensive research on the impact of such an initiative on communities, the purpose of community outreach, and why food is such an integral human right. Not only have my strengths worked in my community work, but they also push me to achieve in my student work on campus. Together my strengths work to make me who I am and I don’t know that I fully understood that my freshman year, but looking back over the last two years of college I can see how they have pushed me in good and bad ways.

Overall Analysis

Goals come with obstacles and success takes failure and patience.

My SLE combines the joy I find in my student work at the gardens, my passion for food security, and my drive to bring a positive change in communities. I am still working to achieve my goals in my SLE because they were setback due to present circumstances which has left me feeling unfulfilled, but it has also pushed me to find other ways to achieve my goals. Recently, I started work on a new film project that highlight Rome food initiatives which will allow me to achieve some of my goals while also working with current conditions. My SLE reminds me that it’s good to pursue your passions and wanting to find work that aligns with them rather just having a job. At the same time my SLE also reminds me to watch my inner critic that can come along with some of my above described strengths. Goals come with obstacles and success takes failure and patience. It also isn’t a one man show and I need to be more willing to be collaborative as there are so many other passionate people who also want to make a difference.

This assessment of myself has reminded me how similar and different I am from my past self. In ways that is for worse and for better. I think it is good to look at what you’re doing, I’ve realized that I don’t do it enough. My strengths are great and I need to be less fearful of how I can use them for the better and work on not letting their setbacks get to me when I am making progress in becoming the best person I can be doing what I love.