Kristen's Building Blocks to Success

When you hear the word block you usually think of something that obstructs your path or something which makes it hard to perform movement. But this is just one definition of block. Block can also have a positive meaning. A block can also be used as a source for a strong foundation. It is for this reason, I have chosen to use blocks or more specifically building blocks to display my strengths of learner, relator, focus, strategic and responsibility as foundations for mapping my plan to achieve relational, academic, and professional success.

The reason I decided to seek a higher education is due to being a learner. Learners are highly interested in gaining knowledge or taking on new experiences. Although learners are excited about acquiring new skills and information, they do not seek to become an expert in any one task. The thrill of obtaining new information is enough to keep them motivated. I know gaining a higher education will provide me with the knowledge and skills I seek and will help me become more marketable by building confidence and allowing me to apply what I have learned. Learner strengths are a mix of talent, ability, skills and knowledge. As a learner, I will use a mixture of my other strengths to build relational, academic and professional success. I have personal relationships with all kinds of people to include family members, friends, co-workers, classmates, and teachers. My learner strength will play a part in my daily interactions with people in my life. By using my learner strength, I can understand how people may feel, think, and react in certain ways. This strength will help tremendously in my pursuit of a career in the criminal justice field.

The next strength that I am working to build is responsibility. Responsibility is all about taking charge and being committed to reaching a goal. Using my strength of responsibility will help me stay on track and reach my planned goals. Being responsible will help me choose a goal, commit to the goal, make decisions, create a system, apply the system, follow through and reach my ultimate goal of success. Responsibility strength can also be used to help develop relationships. Being a responsible person will help me develop relationships by building trust because I will be known for committing and completing tasks I promise. For this reason, friends, professors and employers will believe in me, know I am a reliable person and will always bring tasks to completion which will make me an asset to any team.

Focus means taking advantage of an opportunity. In order to maintain focus, I will need to find a quiet place, focus on the task, use resources, take notes and develop a system for academic success. It is important to develop a system because a system will make sure I remain on task. It will also help me recognize when a developed system is not working and make the appropriate adjustments to bring the task back on track. As I person with focus I can also use my strength to help others, whether in a personal or professional setting, learn to stay on task by establishing workable timelines to assist with keeping tasks on track and bring tasks to completion.

Strategic is the art of being able to find the best route of bringing a task to completion. As a strategic thinker I can recognize foreseeable roadblocks in my future. In the planning phase I will already have accounted for these roadblocks and have an idea as to how I will navigate around them. I know which path I am going to take and have a pretty good idea of where this path will lead me. Being a strategic thinker will help me quickly access situations and recognize the impact my decision may have on others. As a strategic thinker this will help me with personal relationships because I will take into consideration the affect my decision will have on others. This will bring trust and make it easier to establish relationships. In the area of career, I will be able to assess each situation, select the best option and quickly place the best option into play.

Relators are people who enjoy making relationships with others. As a Christian, I also seek to make sure I have a good relationship with God. The more I study and pray, the more I improve relationships with others and with God. My relator’s strength will be used to help me building long-lasting relationships. These relationships can be personal relationships, academic relationships and professional relationships. Personal and academic relationships can sometimes be important in helping to obtain a successful professional relationship. As the saying goes, sometimes it’s not what you know but who you know. In other words, personal and academic relationships can be lead to references for professional employment.

To summarize, each of my strengths is represented by an individual building block. These building blocks, as a unit, equate to the ability of me reaching my goal of success. For example, molecules are considered the building blocks of life; therefore, my strengths are the building blocks which will help me reach my goals in life. My strengths are what make me and how I use those strengths will determine the outcome of my relational, academic and professional success.