 How would you describe yourself in three words

(adjectives)?
I'd describe myself as driven, communicative and reliable. I consider myself to be driven
because I'm always working toward a new goal and refuse to give up if met with any obstacles. I
chose communicative because I greatly enjoy collaborative work and would love the opportunity
to learn from others if given this position. Finally, I picked reliable because I stick to my
commitments. If I volunteer to do something, you can guarantee I'll get it done to the best of my
abilities.

I'm organized, patient and helpful. I pride myself on my time management  skills and ability to
meet multiple deadlines. When I have writer's block, I don't give up. Instead, I maintain my
patience and keep working on the piece until I think of a great idea. I also enjoy helping my
team members approach their projects with different methods. I often find happiness in assisting
others

First, I'm passionate. I've always been interested in science and like to learn as much as
possible about new topics. Second, I'm empathetic. I always try to understand others'
perspectives and find ways to relate to them. Finally, I'm inquisitive. I like to explore the world
around me and find meaningful ways to contribute to conversations.

The first word I'd use to describe myself is approachable. I pride myself on the fact that I always
put in extra effort to make a customer feel comfortable when trying to assist them. I'm also quite
observant. I try to pick up on small details that others may not have noticed. Lastly, I'm open-
minded. I enjoy trying new approaches and techniques to customer service.

Enthusiastic, confident and friendly are three words I'd pick to describe myself. My enthusiasm
for health care allows me to stay motivated at work and find importance in what I'm doing. My
confidence helps me recognize my abilities while also knowing that there's always room to learn
more. I also think of myself as an incredibly friendly person, as I enjoy interacting with my
patients and colleagues every day.
 Time management skills help you manage your time well. Some of the most important time
management skills include:

1. Organization

Staying organized can help you maintain a clear picture of what you need to complete and when. Being
well-organized might mean maintaining an up-to-date calendar, being able to locate certain documents
easily, having a tidy environment and taking detailed, diligent notes.

2. Prioritization

Assessing each of your responsibilities for priority is key in being a good time manager. There are many
ways to prioritize what you need to accomplish. You might decide to complete fast, simple items
followed by longer, more involved ones. Alternatively, you might prioritize your tasks starting with the
most time-sensitive, or a combination of both.

3. Goal-setting

Setting goals is the first step to becoming a good time manager. Goal-setting allows you to clearly
understand your end goal and what exactly you need to prioritize to accomplish it. Setting both short
and long-term goals can lead to success in your career.

4. Communication

Developing strong communication skills can allow you to make your plans and goals clear to supervisors
and colleagues. It can also allow you to ask questions when necessary, and communicate challenges in a
timely manner so that everyone stays on track.

5. Planning

A fundamental part of time management is planning. Being efficient in planning out your day, meetings
and how you will accomplish things will help you stick to your schedule.

6. Delegation

While delegation is most often done by managers, you can also practice delegating tasks if you are
managing a project. While it can often be difficult to say “no” when someone asks you to do something
at work, it's important to practice having boundaries to manage your time well and ultimately
accomplish your goals.

7. Stress management

When practicing good time management, you should also be attentive to your mental health. Handling
stress in a positive way can help you stay motivated and perform well when going through your
schedule. You might do this by including small breaks throughout your day, or by rewarding yourself in
small ways as you accomplish tasks.
8. Problem-solving

Strong problem-solving skills will help you overcome challenges and keep projects moving forward and
on schedule. Problem-solving will also help team members to stay on the same page with each other.

9. Note-taking

Taking notes and keeping documents up to date are important when managing time and tasks.
Following outdated guidelines, for instance, could slow you down or cause you to have to redo some of
your work.

What gets worse and worse as you get older? What gets
better and better?

The most popular New Year’s resolutions include self-improvement goals such as losing weight, quitting
smoking and getting a better job. Surprisingly, the older we get, the less likely we are to make
resolutions.

Teens seem to love making them, college-age kids practically abandon them (#YOLO!), young adults pick
up on them once again, only to progressively drop resolution-making with age. Why is this? Do we
become set in our ways in older age, succumbing to our resolute habits? Or are we more content with
ourselves?

Wheelchair or wisdom?

If you ask the average young person what old age brings, chances are they will say, an ailing body, a
slower mind, memory loss, and generally a less enjoyable life. The truth is, there is a quite a bit of
discrepancy between our expectations of old age and the reality of old age. For example, a recent Pew
Research poll found that 57% of younger Americans expected to suffer memory loss after age 65, while
the reality is that only 25% of older Americans actually experience memory loss. That’s a 32% difference
between our expectations and reality!

Despite our youthful pessimism about growing older, a mounting body of scientific evidence shows that,
in many ways, life improves with age. We become happier and less anxious, more adaptive and resilient.
We deepen our friendships and expertise, and shift our focus to the positive over the negative. This is
even reflected in the rates of depression as they correlate with age. According to the National Institute of
Mental Health, 5.5% of adults age 50 and over said they experienced a major depressive episode in 2012.
For those 26 to 49, the rate was 7.6%, and for ages 18 to 25 it was 8.9%.
So why shift our focus to the positive? It seems that as people age, we tend to prioritize emotional value
and satisfaction, moving us from a restricted and focused view of the world to one that is ever
expanding, dynamic and varied. Wait a minute…have we not been told for decades that aging is a
general and steady decline in both mind and body functioning? It seems – we were wrong.

The neuroscience of emotional wisdom

Far from a slow decay of the mind, recent scientific discoveries have shown that human aging is in fact a
more complex and malleable process than we ever thought. Crystallized mental capabilities such as
vocabulary are quite slow to decline while, fluid capabilities, speed, and memory decrease quicker with
aging. And although some brain areas do suffer age-related functional decline, many do not. For
example, the amygdala, a brain structure critical for recognizing and processing emotional information,
remains relatively stable with age, compared with the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain associated
with ‘executive’ functions. And interestingly, older people favor positive information over negative
information, attending to and remembering the ‘good stuff,’ much more than younger people, who tend
to see the negative information first. In fact, some researchers have named this aging phenomenon the
‘positivity effect.’

Silver linings and silver hair

So, how can we be more like Granny with the rose-tinted glasses? As we enter a new year, the thought of
growing older will likely cross many people’s minds. Rest assured that normal healthy aging across
different cultures is associated with increased social satisfaction and well-being. But there is a way to
raise the emotional quotient (EQ) bar no matter our age – mindfulness training. Several studies have
shown that by engaging conscious awareness of the present moments, mindfulness training has the
potential to help us regulate our emotions more efficiently. By cultivating receptivity to the experiences
of the present moment, different brain systems act in concert to promote emotion regulation rather than
emotion reactivity.

When you think about New Year’s resolutions this year, perhaps it makes more sense to appreciate our
growth and aging, rather than setting a lofty goal we are apt to miss. In doing so, we honor elderhood as
an important life stage and one that can impart wisdom for ourselves and our communities.
 What do you like most about your personality?
1. I would characterize it as kind and altruistic, always ready to help someone. People generally enjoy
my company, and I enjoy company of other people. I’ve always felt an inner calling to help, to do
something for others, and it is also one of the reasons why I picked social work for my studies, and
try now to get a job as a case manager. Of course, my personality has also some weaknesses. I can
get emotional easily, when confronted with extreme suffering or inequality around me, and this is
something I actually have to work on, because I know I will be confronted with such scenes in my
new job.
2. I would describe myself as honest, driven, and energetic individual, always up for the next
challenge. Of course, this does sometimes backfire, because I have a tendency to take on excessive
workload, and then I struggle to meet the deadlines, or can even feel overworked (despite my high
energy levels). In any case, there is always room for improvement, and I hope my personality can
be a good fit for the job in your company.
3. I would characterize my personality with three words: Analytical, creative, and organized.
I thrive when working with data and numbers, and rarely make mistakes. It is the main reason why
I chose my field of study, and why I try to get a job of a Financial Analyst with you. Because I feel it is
a good match for my personality. Of course, I am not perfect, and sometimes my personality makes
it hard for me to thrive in personal relationships. But I do what I can, and can assure you that I will
try my best to have good relationships with my colleagues at work.
4. More than anything else, I would say my personality is still evolving. Sure enough, I like to
manage things and have the last word, but I am also learning to be more receptive to the needs
and wishes of others, and to their feedback. It is a work in progress, but I know it matters, and I
definitely believe that we can change our personality in every age, at least to some extent. I do
what I can to become a better manager…
5. I would characterize myself as an innovative risk-taker, who isn’t afraid to challenge the
status quo. Because I believe that no process is perfect, and we can always achieve better results. Of
course, I may sometimes fail to find the right solution, and will not always manage to make
something better. But it does not discourage me from trying, and I believe this is the right
personality for any work in process management and engineering. Would you agree with that?
6. Excellent listener with endless patience and empathy. Or at least that’s what I aspire to
achieve as a teacher. At the moment I am well on my way, dealing successfully with challenges I
face in the classroom, and managing to achieve progress even with the most problematic students.
Of course, I sometimes lose my temper, because I am just a woman and have better and worse
days. But I guess it is something I have to learn to live with, while trying to become the best
teacher I can be.
7. Team-oriented, open minded, transparent. And I believe the people I led in my former jobs
would agree with the description. I try to be a manager people aren’t afraid to talk to, and
share their feedback with, a manager people know what to expect from, and an open-minded
leader who isn’t afraid of implementing new ideas at work, trying to achieve better results.
Having said that, I have my weaknesses and things I have to work on, just like everyone else.
But I believe that I have a fitting personality for leading a team of creative and ambitious
people, and I am sure I will find such people in your company….
 What’s the best thing about you?
1. I followed my heart.

Life is short and everyone has something that they are passionate about. Be able to say that you didn't

let fear hold you back. The cost of not following your heart is spending the rest of your life wishing you

had.

2. I believe in myself.

Even if you fail, it doesn't mean you will continue to fail. Be able to say you believed in yourself and kept

trying. Everything that is successful will begin with you believing in yourself.

3. I live by high standards.

Never apologize for high standards; people who really want to be in your life will rise up to meet them.

The quality of who you are is reflected in the standards you set for yourself; position yourself to live up to

the rise of your own expectations. 

4. I treat others the way I want to be treated.

Talk to people the way you want to be spoken to; respect people as you wish to be respected. Your

status, religion, race, political views, or culture don't matter--being a good person really is as simple as

following the golden rule and treating others as you would like them to treat you.

5. I understand how precious time is.

Be able to say that you didn't waste time. Remember that time is free but priceless, that you can't own it

but you can spend it--wisely or unwisely. Treat time as a resource to be invested carefully.

6. I look for positivity in all things.

Instead of thinking of all the things that can go wrong, become one of the people who look on how they

go right. Your mind is powerful, and when you fill it with positivity your life naturally becomes positive.

When you think positive thoughts, positive things will happen.

7. I trust my intuition.

Don't let anyone talk you out of what you know to be true. Trust your inner voice and allow yourself to be

led by your intuition. The  more empowered you become, the stronger you become and the happier you

become. Avoid going against your better judgment or getting talked into things that don't feel right.

8. I speak up.

When you don't speak up for the things that matter to you, you are not being true to yourself. When you

speak your mind, you stand with confidence and gain courage.

9. I am a tough person who has made it through tough times.

The times when life is toughest are often the times that lead you to the most meaningful discoveries.

When times are tough, dare to be tougher. Anyone can run away, but facing problems and working

through them makes you strong.

10. I am good at letting people know they matter.

No matter how busy you are, make time to let people know they matter. Be there for them, make plans

with them, set aside time for relationships.

11. I am a responsible person.

Don't be the person who blames others or makes excuses. One of the most important keys to success is

having the discipline to do what you know you should do even when you don't feel like doing it--and
those daily decisions often involve taking responsibility for your own choices and actions. Remember that

your actions do affect other people, so always be careful with what you say and do.

12. I am grateful.

Gratitude will always make you happy. If you have a hard time finding something to be grateful for, look

around you and watch how other people are struggling. Be grateful you have it better, then go out and

help others. At the end of the day, it's not that happy people are thankful but that thankful people are

happy.

13. I have forgiven those who have hurt me.

Forgiveness takes great strength, but few things are more worth the effort. Life becomes easier and

business becomes more manageable when you learn to forgive. The alternative is an endless cycle of

resentment and retaliation that strips your energy and humanity.

14. I have no regrets.

Be able to say you took chances, you told the truth, you wronged a right, you spent time with those you

love, you followed your heart and lived your passion, you forgave and moved forward with fortitude. The

worst form of regret is regret for the chances we didn't take.

15. I am making a difference.

Don't tire of doing little things for others, because sometimes those little things occupy the biggest part

of their heart. In life we cannot always do great things, but, as Mother Teresa said,  we can always do

small things with great love. At the end it is not only about making a living, it is about making a

difference.