Theme: Learning to be responsible, disciplined, and having the determination to push through

with my assignments.

Down 1:

Now i would like to start this tale off by talking about my high-school experience. Honestly, it was
pretty good, but also rather stressful. See those years were very different to middle-school, the
schedules full, the people more mature, assignments more taxing. In essence it was a lot
harder. It was 10th grade, around 4 years ago as of the moment, i became more irresponsible
and less disciplined from the stress. I simply couldn’t keep up with all these assignments. As it
turne out, my carelessness came with a cost, an assignment made with groups in mind, was
already halfway through the deadline and i did NOT have a group. No one was open, so i was
forced to do it on my own. I would describe the experience as inredibly taxing on my psyche.
The first order of business was to make a full paper, an essay or presentation type of sorts, with
graphs and calculations to finish with Tangible results. In a way i felt powerless, against a wave
as tall as the heavens, and worst of all.. Well and truly alone against it.I remember asking myself
if i could ever accomplish this? The first few days were spent mucking about doing nothing…

Up 1:

But one day i realized that there would be no point complaining, i realized that to swear against
the impossible to not even bother attempting the impossible would be worse than failing it. I then
spent many a sleepless night creating my paper researching sources, doing the math, making a
few tables and graphs to present my project. Things were looking up, and i had about 2 weeks
to spare! It was something simple, a poster designed to raise at least one thousand pesos worth
of cash. It was a good reminder to me that

Down: 2

As it turned out, i also needed tangible results. I needed them fast, i can’t actually recall whether
or not if there was some sort of required price or perhaps because i needed to find an
organization to donate it to, but it truly did distress me. 2 weeks, 2 weeks to make my project a
tangible, physical product. How in the world was i going to do that?!

Up 1:
All was not lost though, my mother once told me that in order to be successful in life, one must
have conncetions. I took that advice to heart, you see i had made friends with the librarians, i
was able to secure a place to hang a poster and donation box. Next i designed the poster, no
biggie, i wouldn’t call myself a master graphi designer but i made something serviceable with my
resources, next i hung up the poster in the library, asking a few friends at the time to pitch in.
The only thing left to do was to wait and pray. By the end it was the final day of school, i made
around 700 pesos worth of coins, a little bit less than the target but still serviceable, i gave it to
the school and that was that.

Lesson and value:

Now.. based on the story and anti-climactic ending, one might wonder.. What exactly does this
have to do with being a leader? I lead no one but myself! In fact, i have a number of stories in
which i was the leader of a group. Well to be honest those stories would be rather boring, or we
would learn nothing at all.Either we were so in synch that we had no problems, or we were so
not in synch that we brute forced our way into completing our assignments… Well you see, i
belive this experience sort of.. Opened my eyes in a way. I was actually able to use lessons i
learned in life, i made connections and used my own resources, i think i remember filling out a
form to allow me to post it in the library, i actually had a direction. I suppose that’s the thing i
liked most about it, i had direction, i made my own direction, i didn’t need to be told what to do
or be inspiredby someone else’s idea, i knew where i was going and how to grasp it!

● What are the major incidents in my life? (both highs and lows) Share only
what you can.
● How did I react to that challenge? Choices I made.
● What did I learn from it? What came out of the experience?
● What are the values & competencies in these milestones?
● What is the dominant message that your leadership experience proclaims?