First Three Key Life Areas From My Portfolio of Visions

#Discussion 2: Summarizing Your First Three Key Life Areas From Your Portfolio of Visions

Assignment:

Respond to two (2) of your colleagues’ postings that contain a perspective other than yours.

• Share an insight about what you learned from having read your colleagues’ postings and discuss how and why your colleague’s posting resonated with you professionally and personally. (Note: This may be a great opportunity to help you think about passions you share with your colleagues who could become part of your Walden network.)
• Offer an example from your experience or observation that validates what your colleague discussed.
• Offer specific suggestions that will help your colleague build upon his or her perceptions as a leader.
• Offer further assessment from having read your colleague’s post that could impact a leader’s effectiveness.
• Share how something your colleague discussed changed the way you consider your own leadership qualities.

Further Requirements:

• Your response should be 2-3 paragraphs in length per colleague
• No Plagiarism
• Cite References

My Response:

Summarizing My First Three Key Life Areas From My Portfolio of Visions

Goals are critical to the realization of success in one’s life. This is because they provide a direction that when followed, leads people to their ambitions. “It is well established that goals energize and direct behavior across the lifespan” (Bühler et al., 2019, p.359). This factor is extremely important in adulthood because it is in adulthood that many individuals question whether they are making any progress in life. Personally, I ask myself this question repeatedly and when this happens, I always draw back to my life goals and determine how much progress I have made over time. Therefore, the development of goals and objectives for my key life areas provides me with the direction I should follow to attain my desired end-of-life goal.

Family and Home

The first key life area for which I have developed a goal, action statement, and objective is family and home. My goal in this key life area is to be an inspiration to my son by achieving what I set out to achieve, in this case, completing my master’s program that consists of completing a research project aimed at causing positive social change by impacting the concept of leadership. As Bühler et al. (2019) posit, there is a direct relationship between the content of life goals, the importance of such goals, and their attainability. From this perspective, I can state that this goal is very important to me, which is reflected in its content, and my determination to achieve it. By August 28th, 2022, I will have attained this goal by earning my master’s degree and this will give me a high level of satisfaction that will answer my question of whether I am making any progress.

Financial and Career

An equally important goal is in my key life area of finances and career. This is the goal to create a positive social impact on leadership effectiveness and expand my income streams so I can afford the kind of life I want, which is to travel the world and spend quality time with my family, at my end-of-life stage. This goal reminds me of an important statement by Buchinger et al. (2021) that life goals are essential at both individual and societal levels. At an individual level, this goal will give me a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment upon its realization. Therefore, despite having to take difficult actions that force me to get out of my comfort zone to achieve it, such as giving talks and writing books, which I have to begin within the next year, the realization of this goal will be phenomenal.

At the societal level, I will be extending the positive impact of my actions beyond the self and creating a better society, particularly in the sector of leadership. The courses I have taken during this program have revealed that there is no standard definition of leadership effectiveness. Various factors come together in making great leaders, meaning that the list is yet to be exhausted. Hence, I would like to make my contribution to this element by adding to the list of what makes leaders effective through talking and writing about my leadership experiences, integrating expert opinion, and conducting research. In the next year, I ought to have begun working on this goal by achieving objectives such as giving three talks by June 30, 2023. By doing this, I will indirectly be there for others, which is rated as one of the most important life goals for the adult lifespan (Buchinger et al., 2021).

I expect my pursuit of this goal and objective to also have a positive impact on my finances. Traveling the world presents one of my end-of-life goals, which would be difficult to pursue with my current financial status. While it may seem luxurious, it is more of a developmental pursuit that will have positive implications on both my personal and professional knowledge and experience, as opposed to being confined in the same place for an entire lifetime. It is also a pursuit that aligns with age-normative developmental decisions (Buchinger et al., 2021). Simply put, during the end-of-life stage, many people desire to take a break from their initially busy lives by gaining new experiences, with traveling being one of the strategies to achieve this objective. Therefore, I have the task of first increasing my income streams before venturing into this pursuit. Its accomplishment will leave me with a high sense of satisfaction about how I have lived my life.

Spirituality and Ethics

My goal in this life area is to become an individual with the highest ethical standards to be an example to society at large. This is not to say that I have not been a person of high ethics to this point of my life because most life goals are developed across the adult lifespan (Buchinger et al., 2021). Rather, the goal is an intentional effort to rely on my spirituality to guide my decisions, especially when approaching ethical dilemmas. The objective is to identify key areas in my life that are prone to ethical dilemmas and develop responses founded on my spirituality for more effectiveness.

This objective stems from the fact that my spiritual foundations have moral and ethical principles that could help me substantially in decision-making processes. Further, ethics is associated with good leadership, with a sample statement being that good leaders are both effective and ethical (Ciulla, 2020). The intended actions toward the realization of this goal will have an immense impact on my goals in the other key life areas by ensuring I do not take shortcuts. As a result, the goals will be based on honest work, which will elevate my sense of satisfaction.

In conclusion, life goals are critical because they give individuals a sense of purpose, which is accompanied by a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction upon realization. Based on Buchinger et al.’s (2021) description, the goals identified are aligned with my age and will shape my development. They will also highly contribute to my desired end-of-life stage, which is a source of motivation for me to pursue them.

References

Buchinger, L., Richter, D., & Heckhausen, J. (2021). The development of life goals over the adult lifespan. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B.

Bühler, J. L., Weidmann, R., Nikitin, J., & Grob, A. (2019). A closer look at life goals across adulthood: Applying a developmental perspective to content, dynamics, and outcomes of goal importance and goal attainability. European Journal of Personality, 33(3), 359-384.

Ciulla, J. B. (2020). Ethics and effectiveness: The nature of good leadership. In The search for ethics in leadership, business, and beyond (pp. 3-32). Springer, Cham.

2nd Colleague – Response

Summarizing Your First Three Key Life Areas From Your Portfolio of Visions

Completing the Portfolio of Visions journal project has been one of the most rewarding, yet challenging tasks of my educational journey. I have never been one to write down goals and objectives or establish any type of plan to achieve specific desires. I always lived by the simple motto of work as hard as you can, give everything your best effort, and see what happens. This project has given me the opportunity to codify many specific things I want to achieve and the lasting impact I aspire to impart to those I am fortunate enough to meet.

 

I recently watched an NFL Films presentation on Emmitt Smith, the Hall of Fame running back of the Dallas Cowboys. Throughout his life, he was driven by goals, which he constantly updated and placed in prominent locations as a visual reminder. During the episode, his friends and family members talked about his intense drive and his relentless dedication to the development of specific goals for each year. The interviewer asked him where he learned to do this, he said, “A coach asked me in pee wee football what I wanted to accomplish. I said I want to play college football, play in the NFL, and make it to the Hall of Fame. The coach told me all those things are just dreams until you write them down, then they become goals you strive to achieve” (NFL Films, 2017). This project has forced me to take the time to write down my goals. Now, I must take the first steps toward making them a reality.

Family & Home

Graduate school has kept me extremely busy for 19 months and my family has suffered through my inability to participate in many activities. On Oct 29, 2018, the day after this Capstone is finished; I am going to sit down with my family and establish a plan for the next 12 months. We will decide on a day each week for family activities as well as a plan for a good vacation next summer.

My son is in his sophomore year of college and his first year and a half have been a huge adjustment for us all and difficult for him. As my schedule and workload decrease, I want to make a daily effort to communicate with him and give him more of my free time and attention. As much as a teenager wants anyway.

The final major goal I have is to take my family on a European vacation. I have visited 23 countries and 43 states in our Union during my military career. My family could only experience it through pictures. They have dreamed of going to Europe and seeing the sights. A major goal is to plan, save, and go on a whirlwind vacation to Europe and experience everything they have only seen in pictures.

Financial & Career

In the next few months, I have a huge career decision to make. I have an opportunity to apply and obtain the Deputy Director of Safety job with U.S. Naval Facilities and Engineering Command. Obtaining this job would be a huge undertaking to move from IL, but mark a significant career advancement opportunity. Obtaining this job would be a big pay raise as well as open additional opportunities for advancement in Washington, D.C.

With the potential to advance in my career, I hope to advance through the Civil Service ranks to the top of the General Schedule system and be a GS-15, the highest rank possible. I am currently a GS-13 and have established a five-year timeframe to obtain the highest GS rank.

The final goal we hope to achieve is to be financially able to build us a forever home. I am not sure where that will be, but we hope to be in the financial position to budget and plan, select the location, and build our dream house.

Spiritual & Ethical      

It is very easy to put the needed time required to bolster your spiritual health on the back burner. Life is busy, but spiritual health is as important as physical and mental health. Over the next 12 months, I will make my spiritual health as much of a priority as family and work.

The level of vitriol and disdain in our political environment is something I never thought I’d see.  Even in the small town, I live in, there are unethical political people who have brought down the feeling of community and pride. I want to apply my skills and abilities to run for local government officials and bring change to the culture of local politics for the better.

Finally, after I retire, before I become physically unable, I want to participate in a mission trip. I have heard stories about the life-changing impact a mission trip can have on individuals. To be a part of helping those less fortunate than I is something I have always wanted to do, but never had the time. During several deployments throughout my military career, I have been a part of helping local communities in various forms. However, taking part in a mission trip is a lifelong, bucket list item. I think the experience would be life-changing.

Reference

NFL Films (Writer & Director) (2017). A football life: Emmitt Smith [Television series episode]. NFL Films (Executive Producer). NFL Films.