Reflection of Self

Hayden Shockley
February 6th, 2020
OGL482
Dr. Lawhorn
 Introduction
The process of gathering information for this activity was very strenuous and time consuming. Basically
I sifted through my personal narrative, my assessments, the 3Q’s, and a charter I used to describe
myself for a previous class. I read through each one and identified themes. The themes I saw were
Family Values, Career Choice, Personal Accountability, Location, Empathizing, Prioritizing Integrity,
Persistence, and Never Quitting. I identified these by reading through each data source a few times,
and identified consistencies and related material from each source. I coded the data as I came across
it by abbreviating the categories above; FV, CC, PA, L, EM, PIN, PS, NQ. This task was so much more
difficult to accomplished because each time I concluded my reading, my categories would evolve and I
would struggle to really fit each piece of data into a particular category. I shuffled my findings around a
few times, and eventually settled on the above coding with the appropriate information in each one.
Developing life themes was fairly straight forward after I had my categories set, identified consistencies,
and basically attempted to articulate the underlying theme that each category fit into. Eventually, my life
themes became clear to me. They are:
1. Family Comes First
2. I Act With Integrity
3. I have an interest in the well-being of others
4. I want to be the best at my job
5. I am a great communicator
6. My standards for myself are high
7. I can adapt to changing situations
8. I want a six figure job
9. I have a problem asking for help
10. Friendships are important to me
 My Data Sources
The four data sources I used for this assignment are as follows:
1. Personal Narrative (PRN) - this assignment is a 17 page paper I wrote
accounting my life and various experiences. It details how my experiences
molded me into who I am today.
2. Three Questions (3Q) - Who I am and what my identities are. I wrote about
the different roles I have in my life and how they influence my life.
3. Kuder Assessments (KUDA) - A series of multiple question assessments
that placed my personality traits into categories then told me about careers
and activities that might interest me.
4. Psychological Contract (PSYC) - A contract I wrote about myself for a
team I was in in order to ensure accountability over the course of a semester.
5. Leadership Theory Reflection (LTR) - This is a reflection I did for OGL 300,
and it basically is a summation of the different leadership scenarios we were
faced with throughout the semester, and how that shaped our own
leadership style.
 My 10 Themes
In this section, I will present the 10 life themes I
discovered over the course of this assignment. I will be
presenting the evidence I found within my data sources,
and relating them to the overall theme.
 1. Family Comes First
• Theme Statement: When it comes to prioritizing things that are important in my life, how my
family will be impacted drives my decision making.
• PRN: As a middle child, I get both the responsibility of caring for and mentoring my younger
brother, Carson, as well as being able to learn from and look up to my older brother, Cooper.
• PRN: We will be there for each other forever, unconditionally, and always have someone to
rely on
• 3Q: Being a husband, pilot, student, brother, son, teacher and friend all at the same time is
exhausting. Everyone one in my life needs different things at different times. However, they
all need me to be emotionally available to them because I am such a big part of their lives.
• 3Q: Everyone around me expects me to be there for them when they need me, and I must
do everything in my power to not let them down, risking damaging our relationship.
• KUDA:The Lifestyle value means that the work tasks and work hours required in my job do
not conflict with the time I want to spend with family and friends in leisure activities
• KUDA: I enjoy creating human relationships. The human relationships that are most
important to me are those I have with my family.

• This theme is the driving force in my life, and I need to find make sure my job still
allows me to spend time with my family. I also want a job that will allow me to provide
the life for them that I never had!
2. I Act With Integrity
• Theme Statement: Integrity is the cornerstone of everything I do in my life. It is a
theme in my life that shapes most of my actions, and serves as a roadmap for
almost any action I take.
• PRN: I don’t make excuses for things I do or the way I act toward others, and I
accept responsibility for how I treat people.
• PRN: I am accountable to myself, and I hold others accountable
• 3Q: It doesn’t mean just doing what is right when nobody is looking. I means you
have to do what is right for others that are affected by your decision making.
• 3Q: If you are not acting in an honest, righteous way, the outcome of your decision
or actions would not be the “most excellent” thing you can do.
• LTR: While others focused on the actions, behaviors, and traits of the individual, LMX
focuses on interactions and relationships. It’s strengths are that it addresses
relationships specifically, it places emphasis on fairly rewarding contributions to high
achieving employees, and it places importance on positive strong communications.
• LTR: With a strong, moral, ethical, driven leader, employee success is greatly
impacted. When the employees respect the leader, see them as having their best
interest in mind, and truly caring for their needs, the employees feel not only
inclined, but obligated to help the leader reach organizational goals.
3. I have an interest in the well-being of
others
• Theme Statement: After analyzing the different data sources for this project, it
became clear to me that I truly care about those around me. Even when it does not
directly benefit me, I try to include other people in decision making an really want to
make them feel like a part of the team.
• PRN: Instead of securing the guaranteed point, I passed it across to one of my
teammates to give them the opportunity for glory.
• PRN: This is consistent to this day, because no matter the situation, I genuinely want
to include my team members on projects we work on, and make it point to make
sure everyone feels like a valued member of the team.
• 3Q: What I am good at, is making people feel comfortable, and as though they have
a friend when they meet me.
• 3Q: I really hate seeing people struggle, or get down themselves. When I notice this,
I encourage them to pick their head up and offer consolation.
• PSYC: I show genuine interest to others in my team, which displays my genuine care
for their well-being and success.
• PSYC: As discussed in the text, it provides the leader with a means to gain the trust
and respect of the follower, because the follower believes that the leader has a
genuine interest in their well-being.
4. I want to be the best at my job
• Theme Statement: Excellence is a driving force in my life, I truly cannot live
any other way. I have a competitive nature, and doing anything less than
the best is perceived as a failure in my opinion.
• PRN: If you want something, only you can make it happen.
• PRN: I strive for success in absolutely everything I do, no matter how big or
small the task.
• 3Q: It provided evidence to what I already understood myself to be, which
is someone who is never satisfied with mediocrity, and that is passionate
about growing and improving relationships with those around me.
• 3Q: It exposed that I am not content with who I am, and I still have much
improvement to do in order to be who my family needs me to be.
• PSYC: For the complete duration of OGL 343, will give my absolutely best
effort and take any action required to achieve success for not only myself,
but for my team members as well.
• PSYC: I also want to get better at understanding the psychological contract
concept so that I can learn how to identify and implement that in the future.
5. I am a great communicator
• Theme Statement: Throughout my life, I have had to communicate in many different
contexts and forums. Being able to communicate what I mean effectively is something I
definitely pride myself on.
• PRN:I know when to listen, and also when to speak up.
• PRN: I went from the shy young boy in elementary school that was afraid to talk to anyone,
to briefing high level state department officials in high threat environments. This forced me
to be articulate, confident, and responsible. I had to take my time to think about what I
would say, and more importantly know what I was talking about.
• 3Q: We tend to focus on what we want to convey, our own idea development, and how we
are going to respond to situations we think will arise, rather than take the time and effort to
listen intensely to what others have to say.
• 3Q: Third, I want to make my connections with my team more than just getting work done
and trying to get a good grade. I want to make real connections with them, something that
was talked about by Matt Eng in the TedTalk video.
• PSYC: In the future, I think I need to do a better job of being of assistance when it is
needed, but allowing the other team members to feel empowered by accomplishing their
work autonomously.
• PSYC: The behaviors of a leader in the way they do their jobs and build their relationships
has a profound impact on employee or follower productivity and commitment.
6. My standards for myself are high
• Theme Statement: I hold myself to a high standard, because I expect a lot out of
myself. I am a very committed person, and I do not take failure well. I think because
I am afraid of failing, I become obsessed with having high standards for myself and
my work.
• PRN: Since graduating boot camp, I have been on a mission to see how much I can
achieve, and how much I can accomplish in my life.
• PRN: I tried out for and survived the training in the Air Force Special Warfare
pipeline, and dawned the black beret of a Tactical Air Control Party airmen. This is
one of four direct ground combat jobs in the air force, and it is extremely hard to get
accepted in to.
• 3Q: I am emotionally invested because I truly enjoy problem solving, and using my
natural physical ability to accomplish difficult tasks.
• PSYC: Some examples of things I will do are working longer than required to finish
the job, play an active role in team meetings, enthusiastically perform tasks that I
would rather not do, and consider the interest of the group as my own interest
(Schalk, Schreuder, de Jong, 2016).
• PSYC:I want to bring the highest level of commitment possible to this team, from day
one until the end of module 7.
7. I can adapt to changing situations
• Theme Statement: Being flexible is an evident theme in my life because I have had to deal
with so much change over the years. This has made me very adaptable to different
situations, and builds my confidence in order to deal with change no matter how big or
small.
• PRN: I actually appreciated this fact because it gave me a first hand account of what it was
like to be exposed to a completely different culture from your own.
• PRN: My adaptability that I learned from the previous three school changes allowed me to
quickly mesh with my classmates and make friends.
• 3Q: In other classes, my interactions were limited to discussion board posts and the
occasional email. Now that I have real-time, face to face interactions and dialogue with my
classmates, I can develop relationships with them that are based on connections we make
on personal levels.
• 3Q: I want to make real connections with them, something that was talked about by Matt
Eng in the TedTalk video. This is something completely new to my in my college experience.
• PSYC: Another leadership theory is the Skills Approach, which suggest knowledge and
abilities (versus traits) are required to lead effectively. This means the leader needs general
cognitive ability, problem solving skills, and people skills, etc.
• PSYC: The adaptive leadership style provided guidelines and examples for how to lead
individuals through difficult, or changing situations.
8. I want a six figure job
• Theme Statement: while this theme may seem shallow, it is something that came
up both directly and indirectly. My assessments showed me that I prioritize
income, and my experience with poverty have shown me that I don’t ever want
to experience that. I want to give my family the life I didn’t have growing up.
• PRN: The level of poverty I witnessed driving through these countries was
devastating.
• PRN: I saw women bathing naked on the side of the street in the water running
down the curb, and babies no more than two years old walking around barefoot
in nothing but a diaper over heaps of trash. This put my entire life into
perspective.
• 3Q: Being in a middle class family has great influence on me because I need to
prioritize work over many other things
• 3Q: I hopefully won’t be a part of the middle class anymore, because the wages
earned by a professional airline pilot are quite good.
• KUDA: According to my Super's Work Values Inventory, income was the number
one priority according to that assessment.
9. I have a problem asking for help
• Theme Statement: As an independent person, I always want to
handle things on my own. It is almost as though I pride myself on not
asking for help, because I perceive it as weakness.
• PRN: Nobody is coming to save you, and nobody will hold your hand.
• PRN: I don’t blame people for my own behaviors. I don’t make
excuses for things I do or the way I act toward others, and I accept
responsibility for how I treat people.
• 3Q: My personal goals for this course are to become a more effective
communicator in a team setting, and to learn more about myself as a
contributor to a team, so I can learn about how to become a more
effective member in the future.
• 3Q: One weakness I have within a team is sometimes I try to become
involved in too many roles. In other words, I always try to help as
many people as I can, which sometimes leads to being distracted
from my responsibilities, and taking on more tasks than I can handle.
10. Friendships are important to me
• Theme Statement: I believe you cannot go about life alone! If you live in isolation,
you lack the perspectives of others, and your experiences are limited. Building
relationships that are mutually beneficial, and relying on others is something I found
to be a theme in my life.
• PRN: While Colton and I were always causing trouble, we really relied on each other
for support.I knew that Colton would always stick up for me if other kids were trying
to bully me, and would choose my company over the others in our class.
• PRN: His friendship had a very profound impact on me, and really set the tone for
who I wanted to be as a friend for the rest of my life. I want to really listen to my
friends when they talk, tell them harsh truths, accept their criticism, and be loyal to
them above selfish gains.
• 3Q: What I am good at, is making people feel comfortable, and as though they have
a friend when they meet me
• 3Q: When I notice this, I encourage them to pick their head up and offer consolation.
I will almost always go out of my way to check on someone if I believe they need
help.
• PSYC: My biggest strength when working in a team environment is my desire to
ensure the success of not only myself, but of my team members as well.
 My Personal Vision
Statement
“My work ethic is unrelenting, infectious, and unbreakable. In every
aspect of my life, I will act with integrity and excellence, and push
others to do the same. I will do what is right by my family, and stay
true to myself. ”

Reflection: It seemed like every time I would begin to write or

formulate a vision statement, I would end up changing it to try to truly
fit what I felt in my heart. I watched the videos linked in module 4
from Jim Collins, and I read through the formulating a vision
statement document provided to us. I discovered that there was a
tremendous amount of though and effort that goes into developing
this statement. It isn’t something that you can just come up with on a
whim, especially if you want it to truly embody who you are and the
vision you have to impact others. I really want to inspire myself in the
future when I read over this again, and I want to make everyone else
around me a better person. This will hopefully be paid forward by
them, and we can start changing the world together.
 My Personal Mission
Statement
“I will be a shining light of truth and hope for those who
need me. I will always be someone that my family can
lean on, and I will support those I love with everything I
have”.

I came up with this after really just reflecting on my life,

and the different data sources I used to develop these
slides. I though to myself for along time about what I
want to be for other people. I am a selfless person that
really wants the people around me to succeed be the
best version of themselves. I also want to be someone
that my family and friends can always rely on to be
strong in uncertain times.
 References

Kuder Assessments. Retrieved from: https://

asu.kuder.com/my-assessments/my-assessment-
results