Going Deeper – Enjoyable Accomplishments
One great way to reflect on your values, strengths, interests, and personality is to think of times you felt proud of yourself and were at your best. These are often when you enjoy a process and feel a sense of accomplishment, which is why we call these ‘enjoyable accomplishments’! These situations can be from any part of your life (work, volunteer, school, hobbies, etc.) or any time. Take a minute to describe three specific experiences you would define as ‘enjoyable accomplishments.’
Once you have written your experience “stories,” identify a few values, skills, strengths, interests, and personality traits you notice in each story. After writing them all out, look through them and ask yourself, “What common themes keep reoccurring? Which ones feel most true in most situations?”
Example
| Enjoyable Accomplishment | Description/Story | Values, Skills/Strengths, Interests, Personality demonstrated |
|---|---|---|
| Example 1: Eco Club | Story 1: As part of her high school’s Eco Club, Jane Career was given leadership responsibilities for the end-of-year hike. She organized the schedule, booked transportation, delegated food preparation to other club members, and communicated the details. On the day of the end-of-year hike, everything went smoothly, and her friends thanked her for organizing such a fun trip! Jane really enjoyed both the organizing process and being outdoors with her friends. | Values: nature, environmentalism, professionalism, activity Skills/Strengths: organizing, communication, delegating, leadership Interests: hiking, organizing Personality: take charge, fun, social, responsible |
| Example 2: Assisting a senior | Story 2: While walking home one day, Jane noticed a man slowly crossing the road at a traffic light. He was not going to make it across before the light turned red, so she rushed over to hold traffic and allow him to finish crossing. Once on the other side, the man thanked her and expressed frustration at his own slow pace. Jane joked that maybe it wasn’t him that was too slow, but the light that was too fast! He thought that was pretty funny. | Values: kindness and caring, safety, humour, respect for elders Skills/Strengths: making quick decisions, valuing human connection, communicating one-on-one, reducing frustration and anxiety Interests: people, helping others Personality: live by my values, prefer human interaction but usually one-on-one, responsible |
Attribution
Adapted from “1.3 Your Personality, Interests, Values, Skills and Strengths” from Centennial College Career Success Guide Copyright © by Career Services and Cooperative Education, Centennial College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
