To make sure that the set goals are attainable and, therefore, worth pursuing, one needs to explore their ostensible outcomes in depth, therefore, detailing the possible obstacles that can be encountered on the way to their completion. Furthermore, the factors that will affect the development of the project and, therefore, the way in which the goals will be reached need to be scrutinized closely. In the current project, the opportunities for personal growth are studied, which means that the relevant goals must be set. By analyzing the possible implications of the identified objectives, one will be able to engage in the active and meaningful personal growth.
When considering the plan in question closer, I must mention that achieving a better self-control and improving my resilience to the negative factors that affect my productivity and academic performance should be viewed as the ultimate goals of the project. Therefore, the long-term goals include a significant change in the attitude toward the factors that I cannot control, particularly, the negative ones. In other words, the improvement of resilience levels toward essential stressors, including the issues associated with communication, academic problems, time management, etc., will have to be reconsidered.
Short-term goals, in turn, include the rearrangement of my current priorities, the reconsideration of values, and the identification of new approaches toward communication, time management, and the academic improvement. To attain the goal mentioned above, I will have to adopt the principles of transformational leadership so that a set of new and improved standards could guide me toward a gradual improvement. Achieving the goals listed above will help me gain more confidence that I need to fight the obstacles currently standing in my way.
However, the plan described above needs significant changes. Being only the first draft, it lacks a perspective and, which is even more important, fails to take a range of external factors into account. Getting feedback from classmates, family members, and teachers allowed me to introduce significant improvements to the specified strategy, therefore, making the plan more efficient. For example, the strategy of optimistic talk as the means of reducing the levels of pessimism and creating the environment for a positive personal growth were suggested and incorporated into the current framework for attaining short-term goals.
Combined with the idea of using five positive quotes every morning as the means of waking myself to the need to be proactive and enthusiastic, the identified framework will contribute massively to the development of the necessary habits and skills.
To make sure that the set goals are achieved successfully, I will have to introduce certain control tools into the process. Measuring the success of the suggested strategies is crucial for the further process of setting the course for the next stages of the overall improvement. In order to determine the effects of the framework that I will use to engage in the process of unceasing personal growth, I will have to calculate the percentage of successfully resolved conflicts, problems, and personal issues in every domain listed above (i.e., the academic progress, relationships with the family members, communication with peers and teachers, etc.).
As a result, a comprehensive analysis of the effects that the suggested framework for personal development will have on me becomes a possibility. At this point, I must mention that only the number of issues that will have been resolved successfully and used as the source of essential lessons to learn will be taken into account. The number of issues that will be avoided successfully will not be considered since the goal of the change is not to use the avoidance technique but to learn to confront difficulties that I face on a regular basis. The identified information will be represented as a chart and a table (see below).
Table 1. Conflicts and Lessons Learned
I must admit, though, that the progress described above would have been impossible without the Dream Team. Composed of my family members, peers, and teachers, the team served as the support system that allowed me to retain my positive attitude. Furthermore, the team helped me realize that negative emotions are not to be avoided or feared, either. Instead, they need to be accepted and analyzed. As a result, the basis for a rapid personal progress is built.
My mother was by far the strongest supporter of all people, even though I must give credit to all participants for their encouragement and strength. My mother, however, remained calm and composed even when I was at the brink of losing my temper and becoming overly emotional due to the increasing pressure of the challenges associated with the change in behavior and environment.
In retrospect, the effects of the strategy described above have been quite successful so far. I feel much more confident, and I have learned a significant amount of information and a range of skills for successful communication, time management, academic progress, and the associated issues. Furthermore, I have realized that it is necessary to focus on the multicultural aspects of the communication process when working in a team and conversing with the members of the community. I also plan to enhance my athletic ability and performance by doing daily exercises and focusing on balancing my physical and mental progress.
The experience described above, therefore, allowed me to gain a deeper insight into the nature of my emotional problems and, thus, helped me develop the strategies for managing the feeling of insecurity. As a result, I gained enough confidence to confront the issues that I have been experiencing in communicating with my peers, family members, teachers, and other community members. A massive progress has been made in a range of areas of my life, including personal and academic ones. Furthermore, I have realized that conflicts are not to be feared; instead, they should be viewed as the resource of important information and the basis for learning crucial lessons about social interactions, negotiation, decision-making, etc.
Several psychological barriers need to be listed among the obstacles that I had to overcome to reach the required progress. For instance, it was rather difficult to manage my emotions when dealing with conflicts. Instead of viewing an issue from a personal perspective, I had to be objective, which was a challenging task. Nevertheless, I managed to reach the required results.
Designing a future plan that may help me address similar concerns, I will have to incorporate the principles of emotional intelligence into my strategy. While learning more about my responses toward stress factors was quite interesting, I needed a better framework for developing an understanding of how my emotions worked. Therefore, the principles of emotional intelligence will need to be included in a new strategy.
Furthermore, to make the new plan meet the SMART goals, I will have to introduce an efficient measurement tool based on a statistical analysis. Time restrictions (e.g., a month) will also have to be set. New skills such as negotiation techniques and the principles of the consistent improvement will have to be introduced as well. The Dream team will remain the same, whereas the techniques for overcoming psychological barriers will have to be more elaborate.
The issue of Emotional Intelligence (EI) should be discussed separately. While often taken for granted, the necessity to identify and analyze one’s emotions is a crucial skill in managing the relationships with others. Therefore, I must work toward developing EI skills as the basis for the improved communication with the people around me (Martin-Raugh et al. 47).
By developing the skills of positive thinking that will allow me to reconsider my values and get my priorities straight, as well as enhancing the communication process with others and altering my sleeping schedule to have more time for rest, I will be able to advance in my personal progress significantly. Particularly, the identified changes are bound to provide the foundation for developing a healthier approach toward a range of my daily activities and the associated stress factors.
Seeing that most of the latter hinge on extraneous factors that I cannot control, it will be a sensible step to reconsider my attitude toward the subject matter. As a result, a significant improvement in my resilience toward stress factors is expected to be observed. Consequently, the foundation for a significant improvement will be built.
Work Cited
Martin-Raugh, Michelle P., et al. “Prosocial Knowledge Mediates Effects of Agreeableness and Emotional Intelligence on Prosocial Behavior.” Personality and Individual Differences, vol. 90, no. 1, 2016, pp. 41-49.