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Reflective Journal Entry 2: Begin with the End in Mind & Put First Things First

Buttonwood Financial Advisors


Mariah Acap, Intern 9/23/2013

Professional Experience Reflection of Beginning with the End in Mind: I can certainly identify with Coveys explanation of taking personal leadership of my careerpath by fighting through the weeds to figure out exactly what I want to end up doing with my life. I feel as though my work and personal experiences have allowed me to fight through the weeds at this early stage in life. Therefore, Im very confident with the principles Ive developed, and the path Ive chosen to pursue. My first internship at the age of 15 revolved around secretarial duties (e.g. answering phone, filing, etc.). I quickly found that I could never settle down in that type of position whether its a secure form of income or not. Some secretaries had been in the same position for 10+ years, and that boggled my mind because I would personally feel unfulfilled. This particular internship made me realize I have a passion to be my own boss, build my own business, and constantly feel as though Im directly bettering the lives of individuals. My first internship with a financial firm at the age of 19 helped me refine exactly what Id like to end up doing. I learned the most by observing the lives (personal and professional) of the advisors I assisted. I left that internship for two reasons: 1) there is more growth potential within the firm I recently joined, and 2) I didnt like the lack of a work-life balance my bosses demonstrated. It was clear that they were both money-centered, and their personal lives were literally falling apart. The latter reason put me in a panic because if this career will dominate my life and cause me to put my future husband and children on a back-burner, then I needed to find a new path ASAP! Fortunately, I was very open in my interview with Buttonwood (my current employers) that Id like to work for a firm where a work and personal-life balance is demonstrated. I actually believe I was hired by Buttonwood because I demonstrated strong values, priorities, and personal principles just by revealing that it is important to me to see successful advisors who also have happy personal lives. Thus far, I am inspired by what I am seeing, and my faith in this career path has been restored.
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Recently, my current bosses revealed that they believe I have demonstrated the core-principles Buttonwood is looking for, and they informed me that they will be placing a competitive job offer on the table upon my graduation. Obviously, it is too soon to know whether Ill accept their offer or not. But, it was very refreshing to feel Im slightly closer to my long-term career goal, and I can 100% say that this is the ladder I want to climb. Applying Beginning with the End in Mind in Future Experiences: Essentially, Covey explained that starting with the end in mind consists of developing a personal mission statement and unwavering principles. Once those are established, then you know youre fighting to climb a ladder leaning on the correct wall. Luckily, Ive spent six years fighting through the weeds in order to establish my own mission and principles to use as my inner compass going forward. Reading Coveys explanation of this habit made me briefly wonder if Im on the path I truly want to be on. As mentioned in my first reflective journal, my mother is a work-a-holic, and reading about this habit has made me realize Im on the same work-centered path. The script I have been following is one I picked up from my mother. While she is an amazing mother, financially stable, vastly successful, and the most caring person I know, I would really prefer to re-write my script as being family-centered while finding a successful work-life balance. At my funeral, Id love for everyone to remember me as the happiest, loving, successful, uplifting, do-it-all woman anyone has ever met. Not only do I want to exude those traits, but Id also love for everyone to feel as though my personality, priorities, morals, and principles were inspiring. Id never want anyone to think my life was ruled by the pursuit of growing my net worth. In my opinion, the richest people are those who generate revenue by doing what they love to do while simultaneously building a happy family, surrounding their selves with amazing people, and checking off items on their bucket-lists along the way.
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As I move forward with the end in mind, I believe decision-making will be slightly easier. As Covey mentioned, imagination and consciousness is what allows us to individually visualize the world of potential within us. I can literally visualize the life I want, and the person I want to be throughout my journey. As long as I stay faithful to my core-principles, then at least Ill be able to say I never regret any decision I make. Covey touched on the subject that most people need some type of tragedy to happen in order for them to re-script their lives because its so easy to lose sight of whats really important. Id like to believe that my priorities are aligned so that I dont become one of those people. For example, if I were offered a high-paying position on the West Coast, I would turn it down in a heart-beat because theres no way I would leave my family. No amount of money could convince me to miss out on time with people who are important to me that may not always be here. Future Value Added by Beginning with the End in Mind: I believe this habit mostly adds personal value to my future career. By starting with the end in mind, it may show employers and clients that I am driven, confident, know exactly what I want to achieve, etc. But, what means more to me than others perception of my value is the amount of value this habit adds to my own mental state. To clarify, I believe this habit adds value by creating confident people. When someone believes 100% in what they are doing and the reasoning behind it, then they will outperform someone who doesnt have vested interest in what theyre doing. In order for someone to truly believe in their actions, then those core-principles, as Covey discussed, must be present all the way through the decision making process. I will go further in my career and personal life as long as I stay on the path I chose, and am not easily distracted by other possible temptations. Covey mentioned that certain things in life, such as our environment, are constantly changing- but its up to us, solely, to stay on the path we have selected based on our own scripted definitions of success.
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Professional Experience Reflection of Putting First Things First: Coveys explanation of this habit being the management behind decisions made through habit 2 helped me gain a deeper understanding of putting first things first. In theory, it makes sense that quadrant I and quadrant II tasks would be knocked out first. But, thats not always how the cookie crumbles in my case. I believe I have a very firm grasp on habit 2 and the principles that govern my decisions, but this chapter made me realize I have a lot to improve with the execution/management of my leadership. I completely identified with the group of people, explained by Covey, who dislike most time management practices due to the feeling of being trapped within deadlines. I always attempt to organize my life based on my work-load (school and professional). However, I constantly find myself putting quadrant I and II priorities on the backburner to my personal life because I often value quality time with my loved ones much more than completing a project early. My current mind-set is completely flawed, according to Coveys explanation of effective time management. Instead of managing my time better, I find myself taking on more stress to incorporate meeting deadlines AND doing everything else that makes me happy outside of school/work all at the same time. I frequently find that what suffers in my quest to do-it-all is the amount of sleep I get every night. Fortunately, my way of balancing work, school, and my personal life has been successful thus far. However, I feel as though the lack of sleep over the past four years is catching up to me. When I came to college, I was able to operate on four hours of sleep if needed. Now, Im significantly less productive even if I get six hours of sleep. It is very clear that I need to adapt a new time-management process because yawning all day at my internship reflects poorly on me. Covey explained that many people will knock out a significant amount of quadrant 4 tasks because theyre simple and it gives people a sense of being productive even though none of those items
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were urgent or important. I realized that I tend to do that. For example, instead of writing a paper, Ill clean my entire apartment. Clearly, my apartment cleaning has no deadline, but Id rather do that than sit down and hammer out a thoughtful, intelligent paper for class. Im left with a temporary sense of productivity- which is soon shot-down by the heavy weight of a deadline still left on my shoulders. Applying Putting First Things First in future Personal & Professional Experiences: Once I am able to fully incorporate an effective time-management process that balances my work and personal life, then this habit will have added significant value to my productivity levels. As noted above, I have much to improve on, and I believe the best stepping stone is my answer to one of Coveys questions posed in this chapter. Covey asked to think of something I should be doing that would greatly improve my life. He quoted that the most successful people are the ones who do the things failures dont want to do. That quote really resonated with me, and I kept that in mind as I developed answers to Coveys question. I really should begin to form the habit of completing at least one hour of school-work every night. Currently, I let my work build-up, and spend 7 hours on a Saturday or Sunday stressing out while trying to complete tasks due in the coming week. In the grand-scheme of things, one hour is not much to ask within a day to spend working on quadrant II tasks. This would greatly decrease stress, and increase productivity. In addition, I need to form the habit of going to bed around 10pm and waking up at 7am every day. Feeling well rested decreases my stress level, increases my productivity within the day, and make helps me stay focused while maintaining my happy personality. If this habit really sticks, I could go to bed early, rise early, workout, then go to school or work all before 9am! Future Value Added by Putting First Things First: This habit will add value to my future career by allowing me to engrain new, more effective time-management skills. Combined with being proactive, and remaining true to my core-principles, I
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believe Ill stick out amongst my competition. Frequently within my office, issues arise that no one really wants to deal with, but the individuals who combat the issue head-on are the ones who out-shine the rest. Essentially, this habit will give me the competitive advantage necessary to climb the ladder Ive chosen. Ive noticed within my past 6 years of work experience that the average office employee either comes to work on time or a few minutes late, complains about being tired, pushes off large tasks, and scrabbles at the last minute to meet deadlines. Therefore, if I can just put first things first and make habit of everything those average employees dont do, then Ill already be ahead. In the ideal world, showing up early, well rested, ready to take-on the nitty-gritty tasks, and effectively prioritizing will not only better myself, but maybe inspire my employees around me to do the same- Thus, improving the team as a whole.

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