Themes from My Life

• Rachael Stiver
• April 8th, 2023
• OGL482
• Professor Willmott
Introduction

Taking information gathered from my educational career and applying them in

a thematic analysis. I identified 10 themes with supporting evidence to
showcase my educational journey and personal values.
Research Process and Methods

In the next few slides, you will introduce your research, and bullet point the process and
methods you used to compile your data into themes – what data you used, how you
analyzed your data, your approach to coding your data, any struggles or challenges you
encountered throughout the coding process, and a brief introduction to your life themes.

Make sure to label your slides appropriately per item.

Research Process and Methods
The research process started by gathering and reading all of my material.

I printed psychical copies of my data sources and assigned each theme I identified a color.

Using the color-coded system, I highlighted all of my sources appropriately.

After reviewing my data from OGL482 I began to search for supplemental data from other resources.

Next, I created my PowerPoint slide show rough draft to create the outline for my thematic analysis.

Lastly, I organized the data into categories to have at my convinc.

My Data Sources

• DISC Assessment • OGL482 Module 3 Discussion

• Big Five Personality Assessment • 3 Questions
• 16Personalities Assessment • Kuder Assessment
• Career Anchors Assessment • OGL300 Paper 3
• Personal Narrative • Weebly Page E-Portfolio
 • Big Five Personality Test (BF) – The test gives a statement, and the user
selects an answer from the scale. This assessment uses a scale from strongly
agree to strongly disagree. Each statement corresponds to one of the Big
Five personality traits: openness to experience, conscientiousness (work
ethic), extraversion, agreeableness, and natural reactions.
• Life Story Personal Narrative (LSPN)-This reflective exercise required that I
create a substantial narrative of my life story from birth to the present day.
Additionally, throughout the retelling of my story, we were required to
identify major themes which have persisted throughout our life.
• DISC Personality Test (DISC) - This assessment requires users to select two
answers from a series of statement clusters, one which they find most
accurate to their personality and one which they believe is least accurate as
Data Sources to their personality. Each statement has a corresponding value which
generates a score for the user in four categories: Dominance, Influence,
Steadiness, and Compliance. 
• OGL300 Paper 3 (OGL300) – This paper is a reflection from my OGL300
course on Theory and Practices of leadership. The course included a lot of
introspection of leadership theories and styles, and this paper created an
overview of the things that stood out to me.
• Kuder Assessment (KA) – This assessment is composed of 3 different tests
that measure skills, interests, and work values. This assessment also
suggests career interests and measures interests to current skills to help the
user visualize the results.
 • 16Personalities Test (16PT) – The 16Personalities assessment is a version of
the Jung Assessment. The test gives statements, and the user selects an
answer along the scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The answers
correspond to one of the five areas: Introversion v. extraversion, intuitive v.
observant, thinking v. feeling, judging v. prospecting, and turbulent v.
assertive.
• Career Anchors Assessment (CAA) – This assessments measures values. The
test includes answering prompts on a scale of 1 to 10. Ranking the prompts
Data Sources on how important they are to you. At the end the results give two career
anchors that are most important to the user.

Continued • 3 Questions (3Q) – This reflection deals with answering 3 questions from
Father Himes. 1. What gives me joy? (What kinds of things am I doing when
I’m most naturally content and happy?) 2. What am I good at?  (What are my
strengths?) 3. What does the world need me to do? (What can I contribute?)
• OGL 482 Module 3 Prompt (M3P) – This reflection focuses on the self-
assessments taken for that module of OGL482. All of the self-assessments
included in the reflection are data sources for this analysis.
• Weebly (W) – The Weebly website is the capstone e-portfolio from my
OGL481 and OGL482 courses. This website covers many facets of my
experience throughout the past three years and is full of artifacts from
previous courses.
 It is important to navigate life with
an understanding of oneself. The
10 themes that I identified during
this analysis show my self
understanding and help to guide
My 10 Themes my decisions and life path.
Narrowing down to 10 themes was
slightly difficult, but I feel that the
10 I used for this analysis give a
good overview of what is important
to me.
Theme 1: Sense of Purpose
Supporting Data:
• Working for a company that shares my sense of
purpose makes me feel like I am a part of something
and making a positive change. (3Q)
• Having a sense of achievement that I am doing
Theme Statement: something good is one of my top 5 work values and
Finding work that gives important when I look at career options. (KA)
me a sense of purpose. • I score high on a facet of personality that reflects
the strength of my sense of duty and obligation. (BF)
Feeling like my work and • Using integrity and working in a job that gives me a
time are helping the sense of purpose brings me joy. (3Q)
greater good and making • A high score of sense of responsibility reflects that I
a positive difference. am ethical and highly principled and that gives me a
high level of moral obligation and purpose. (BF)
• Working by helping others is important for me and
something that I seek out in my work. Every career
choice I make focuses on helping others which is my
personal sense of purpose. (W)
 • Contradictory Evidence
• There is nothing to contradict this theme because my choices all show
how important it is to me.

• Reflection
• My work is not complete, and I am not
complete as a person if I am not fulfilling
my personal sense of purpose. Helping
Theme 1: Sense others is my purpose and my work needs
to reflect that, or I become unhappy and

of Purpose unfulfilled. The largest part of my career

decision making is driven by my sense of
purpose. I use my sense of purpose to
Continued define my personality and am happiest
when I fulfill my purpose. Purpose what
drives my life and with that knowledge I
am able to find ways to satisfy and bring
myself joy.
Theme 2: Empathy/Helping Others

Supporting Data:
• I solve problems through empathy and approach issues with
Theme Statement: a focus on empathy. (KA)
Helping others and • The biggest source of joy I have is helping others. I feel the
most joy and am at my best when I am actively helping
using empathy is the others in some way. (3Q)
driving force of who I • My scores for skills and interests rank highest in the social
am as a person. category and focus on helping other to succeed. (KA)
Loving and serving • My career interests are all in alignment with helping others
and require high levels of empathy. (KA)
others is what drives • In my work I focus on helping others to succeed and I search
my decision making for jobs that focus on helping others. (M3P)
and brings me joy • The common theme across my work and ambitions include
and fulfillment. helping others. One of my core values is empathy and I use
that everyday when I interact with those around me. (W)
 • Contradictory Evidence (if there is none then a brief
explanation why feel this is so)
• My very strong desire to help others can create issues
with my technical problem-solving. When I get too
emotionally involved the logical and analytical part of
me can become overwhelmed and I take on the
emotions of others in an unhealthy and unsustainable

Theme 2: way. (W)

• Reflection

Empathy/ • Leading my life by putting others first has been an

integral mindset since childhood. Growing up in a
religious household and focusing on the Ten
Helping Others Commandments taught me the importance of helping
those around you. At times, my empathy is

Continued
overwhelming and has hindered my choices, but as I
grow older and learn how to maintain healthy
empathy it only helps me. I can remember many times
strangers have showed me empathy and compassion
and I strive to make those memories with other
people. The leaders I look up to most lead with
empathy and a focus on helping others. My goals align
with helping those around me and I feel unfulfilled
when my work is not serving others in some way.
Theme 3: Close Relationships
Theme
Supporting Data:
• Work life integration is important to me, and I want a lifestyle
Statement: Close that reflects that. Spending my time at work focusing on work
and spending my time outside of work focusing on my close
relationships play an relationships.(KA)
integral part of my life. • As an advocate I feel strongly for those around me and work to
protect and support other people. (16p)
My friends and family • I am confident in growing relationships and work on my skills on
keep me grounded and starting relationships as I can get nervous. My interests and
skills align in this social aspect. (KA)
bring me joy. My circle • Belonging and community are important to me and something I
may be small, but I keep find comfort in at my work and in my personal life. Being apart
good people in it and of something and creating that commonality with others is
important. (3Q)
keep my support system • My friends and the people in my small circle are the people I
strong. Those around me rely on for advice and perspective on my strengths and
are important to me and I weaknesses. (3Q)
• My close relationships are highlighted in most of my work. The
make sacrifices for those I leaders I look up to most are trusted and mentor me through
love. our relationship. The trust we have built creates a healthy
learning space. ((LSPN)
Theme 3: Close
Relationships
Continued
• Contradictory Evidence
• At times as and INFJ I can deal with feeling
misunderstood and like those around me are
different. This can lead to some friction and anxiety
in my close relationships and cause doubt. (16P)
• Reflection
• Close relationships are one of the most importance
currencies for me. I at times struggled to let people
in on a personal level, but those I allow into my
personal life are highly valued and given a lot of my
time and energy. My close relationships also include
my relationship with myself, and I spend a large
chunk of time each week working on my close
relationships. I hope to continue to love my people
fiercely and create lifelong bonds with those
important to me.
Theme 4: Leadership
Supporting Data:
• High levels of assertiveness means that I spend a lot of time taking
charge and leading groups even when I would prefer not to. When
Theme put in a group I tend to emerge as a leader even when my intention is
Statement: to stay in the background. (BF)
Leadership is a • My career interests focus on activities that require confidence in
persuasion and leadership. (KA)
lifelong learning • My current role as a shift supervisor gives me a direct leadership role
opportunity and that gives me a purpose to uphold the mission and values of the
something that I company. This role helps me to actively work on my leadership skills
am drawn to. My and identify areas of improvement. (3Q)
interests in • My role as a natural advocate requires taking charge of situations to
focus on correct misjustice and fix issues. (16P)
leadership at the • The skills and interests point towards a common second occurrence
practical and of enterprising skills and using leadership skills to direct projects or
theoretical levels ideas. (KA)
make this topic • My interests in varying leadership styles and theories shows my
important to me. understand of my own style and of my ability to identify leadership in
others. (OGL300)
 There is nothing to contradict this theme because my
choices all show how important it is to me.

• Reflection

Theme 4: Leadership has always been something that I naturally

fell into. My entire life I have found myself, at times
reluctantly, being in leadership roles. I have always found the
Leadership different approaches and styles to leadership interesting.
Choosing a leadership degree made sense to me to help
satisfy my thirst for knowledge and the drive to better
Continued understand my own leadership approach. I want to be the
best leader I can be and follow in the footsteps of the leaders
who inspire me. Learning about and understanding the
foundations of leadership and spending time self reflecting
have increased my leadership skills already. Leadership takes
practice and dedication and is something I hope to continue
to improve in for my entire life.
Theme 5: Teaching Others/Coaching
Theme Statement: Teaching others and sharing
knowledge has always been something I focus
on. I never want to gatekeep knowledge and am
willing to share whatever I know to help others
continue to learn and grow. Assisting others by
coaching them and not avoiding the hard
conversations is an important part of teaching
others.
Supporting Data:
• My personal case study for my OGL481 course
reflects heavily on my approach to coaching and
the importance of coaching in my work. The
focus behind my coaching at work is to
corrective bad behavior and teach the correct
behavior. (W)
• Four of the recommended careers involve
working in the education sector as an educator.
(KA)
• Watching people grow and learn are big sources
of joy for me. (3Q)
• My highest levels of interest and skills are
focused on the social aspect of helping others
to learn. (KA)
• My high score in altruism shows my keenness to
teach others. (BF)
• Teaching people how to use the tools that will
help them is one of the things that sparks joy.
My work as a supervisor fulfills that area. (3Q)
 There is nothing to contradict this theme because my
choices all show how important it is to me.

Theme 5: • Reflection
• Teaching others is something I have always been

Teaching interested in. I love to learn and I love to share my

knowledge with others. Knowledge is power and it is
important to share what we know to be an informed

Others/Coaching society. I have always been drawn to working with

children because they are always learning and
exploring new things. Spending the time to teach or
Continued coach someone builds a strong relationship and
creates trust. It is a vital part of who I am.
Theme 6: Challenge
Supporting Data:
• I aspire to fix society’s deeper problems, in the hope that unfairness and
hardship can become things of the past and this is a constant challenge for me
to work on. (16P)
• My secondary career anchor is pure challenge. Having a challenge or problem
to solve is an important part of my work life and who I am. (M3)
• Having a strong inner motivation to attain personal goals keeps me
Theme Statement: challenging myself. This drive helps me to avoid settling. (DISC)
Experiencing challenges • Finding challenge in my job as a shift supervisor and needing the extra
to keep variety and challenge and to continue to move upwards in the company to experience
remain intellectually challenge. I find myself getting bored after a certain period of time in my work
if I do not continue to experience challenge. (W)
stimulated. • Staying mentally sharp and working in a field that give me ample opportunity
to learn and expand my skills is one of my highest work values. (KA)
• My work changes each day and different workers and customers create
different challenges to navigate and that helps keep me feeling challenge.
(3Q)
 • Contradictory Evidence (if there is none then a brief
explanation why feel this is so)
• My desire to feel challenged can affect my close
relationships when I am feeling burnt out or
overwhelmed. It is important for me to not let
challenge be the driving force behind my decision
making.

Theme 6: • Reflection

Challenge
• Growing up I found myself getting into trouble when
I got bored at school and did not feel challenged. I
want to avoid boredom and the bad decisions I can

Continued make when I am bored so I actively seek out

challenge. I want to continue to learn and work hard
and not just do things because they are easy. It is
important for me to feel pride in my work and that
only happens when I have worked hard and felt
challenged. Grit is built from hard work and I hope I
continue to seek out challenge and work hard for the
rest of my life.
Theme 7: Learning/Continuing Education
Theme Statement: Lifelong
learning is vital to a happy life
that feels fulfilled. I seek out
education and learning
opportunities in many
capacity to continue to be a
lifelong learner.
Supporting Data:
• I have always been drawn to self-assessments as a form of learning
more about myself. Right after high school I took an aptitude test to
learn more about myself and the careers that fit my personality.
(M3)
• I seek variety in my work because it gives me opportunity to learn
new skills and try different things. (KA)
• I love to ask question and find myself asking questions every day. My
manager at work always knows when we speak, I ask a lot of what if
questions so that I can't be prepared for any situation. (3Q)
• As an advocate I seek to learn more about the injustices I want to
fix. (16P)
• Seeking higher education and planning to continue my education
with graduate school at some point in the future shows how highly I
value education. (W)
• I am a book work. I devour books and love to read. This year I have a
challenge to read 100 books and I have already read 42 while I am
working fulltime and doing full time college classes. Reading helps
me satisfy my quest for knowledge. (LSPN)
 • Contradictory Evidence
• There is nothing to contradict this theme because my
choices all show how important it is to me.
Theme 7: • Reflection

Learning/
• Making choices to learn about the things around me
instead of just letting others do things for me has
been a theme that stems from childhood. I asked

Continuing questions obsessively growing up, like most children,

but I never stopped asking the questions. I am
constantly wanting to understand the why behind

Education things or how things operate. I love to learn in my

work and at school. I love when others share their
knowledge with me. As I prepare to graduate college
Continued and take some time off before pursuing graduate
school, I am looking into learning a new language to
help satisfy my quest for education.
Theme 8: Technical Problem-Solving
Theme Statement: Analyzing and understanding
issues is an important facet of how I operate as a
person. My approach to problem-solving and
decision-making is important to me as a leader and
as a person.
Supporting Data:
• I scored in the low percentile for openness to
experience because I take a more technical
approach to problems. (BF)
• I prefer to work with people or things over ideas. I
find that it is easier and more satisfying to work
with people or things because it is more absolute.
(DISC)
• My inner desire to be objective and analytical drive
my choices and decisions. I approach problems with
an analytical approach. (DISC)
• I like to fix problems and have always been seen as
a problem solving. At work my role a a supervisor
requires an analytical approach to solving issues to
maintain positive outcomes. (3Q)
• My third highest interest is in the realistic area. I
like to solve problems using concrete, practical, and
structural solutions. When I approach an issue, I
want to fix it completely and not just use a band
aide solution. (KA)
• I prefer familiar routines and approach things in
similar ways while adjusting as necessary. (BF)
 • Contradictory Evidence
• As an advocate (INFJ) I seek out solutions and want to help solve
problems. This means I can feel too attached and take on others
problems in an unhealthy way which can damage my approach to
technical problem-solving when my judgment becomes clouded. (16P)

Theme 8: • Reflection

Technical
• Solving-problems is something I look forward to. I
have always been a problem solver and love to take
on other peoples problems to help them find

Problem-Solving solutions. I enjoy analyzing situations and finding

where the root of the issue is and brainstorming
ways to fully fix the problem. I love following the

Continued plan to fix a problem and being prepared. These

things are important to me in my work and help
influence how I approach various situations. I know
that I will continue to solve-problems in my work and
in my personal life.
Theme 9: Organized Work
Theme Statement: Staying organized and keeping
things orderly makes my life easier and
manageable. When things are in disarray, I find
myself in chaos and shut down. Organization and
planning keep me content and in control.
Supporting Data:
• Conscientiousness is my highest scoring category
with a 100% score. This places me in the highest
percentile and explains my mannerisms and
approaches to things. (M3)
• I am a clear thinker who prefers a clear and definite
course of action. (DISC)
• It is important to me to plan. I enjoyed my project
management course and learning about scheduling
and learned a lot about how to channel my
organization into the schedules. ((LSPN)
• My attention to detail and focus on helping others
is only successful when things are organized, and I
have plans. (16P)
• Using integrity, I am able to keep things properly
planned and completed. I do what I say I am going
to do and keep myself accountable. (M3)
• A visual representation of my organization is my
entire Weebly page. Things are in an order that
makes sense and sorted in categories. (W)
 • Contradictory Evidence
• At this time, I did not find any contradictory evidence in my date
sources.

• Reflection

Theme 9: • My personality type and mannerisms require order. I

like to feel in control and a way that I feel in control is

Organized Work
to have things organized and planned out. People
describe me as organized, and I am often the planner
for various events and trips. Plans and organization

Continued bring me joy and put me in a healthy mindset that

keeps me focused. I know as I grow older, I will
continue to be a planner and keep my life organized.
Finding a career that can use these skills will satisfy
my desire to plan.
Theme 10: Integrity
Theme Statement: The
most important value for
me is integrity. I value
integrity and value others
who use integrity. The
foundation of who I am and
the relationships I have
with others are built from
integrity. I pride myself in
following through with my
word and being truthful.
Supporting Data:
• Steadiness is my highest scoring area on the DISC assessment, and I find my behavior
and the reason I am steady is from my integrity. Always following through with my word
makes me a reliable and steady person. (DISC)
• My work ethic is strong, and I am a hard work because of my integrity. Even when I face
temptation, especially at my job currently, my integrity keeps me accountable. (M3)
• Advocates tend to have strong beliefs and values, particularly when it comes to matters
of ethics. When Advocates talk about topics close to their heart, their conviction and
heartfelt idealism can inspire and persuade even the sternest of skeptics. (16P)
• My core values have always included integrity. Every variation in every course I have
taken has always included integrity in some way. This trend demonstrates the
importance integrity holds in my life. (W)
• Doing the right thing and holding myself accountable forces me to work on my integrity
every day. I use reflection to make sure I have used integrity in my choices. (3Q)
• Advocates care about integrity, and they tend to bristle when people try to change
them or talk them into something that they don’t believe. (16P)
 • Contradictory Evidence
• At this time, I have not found any contradictory evidence for the
theme of integrity.

• Reflection
• Integrity is integral to my life. My scoring as an
advocate (INFJ) shows how I value ethics and values

Theme 10: and that plays into my view of integrity. I hold myself
accountable to show integrity even when it is
difficult. I have learned that I can not expect others

Integrity to value integrity the way that I do. This has been a
hard thing for me to understand and I still struggle
with gut reactions to people who lack integrity. I still
remain true to my integrity even when others do not
in the same situations. I know that my relationships
are built on integrity and my life is happier when I
stay true to something I value so highly.
 “Treating others with kindness, empathy,
respect, and equity to fulfill the purpose of
helping others.”
Reflection: My personal vision statement was

My Personal Vision relatively easy to create. This statement is how I

already to strive to live and is a mixture of
different visions I have seen at different jobs. I

Statement mixed the vision of Starbucks, FEMA, and some

of my personal values within my vision
statement. I agree with and honor both FEMA
and Starbucks visions and live by their values
every day in both my work and personal live.
 I am driven to treat others with equity and
present myself with dignity, respect, kindness,
and empathy to create meaningful and positive
differences. I will follow my sense of purpose
and put others first to fulfill that purpose.

My Personal Reflection: It is necessary for me to remind

myself of my personal mission everyday. I want
to truly live out my purpose and be the person I
Mission Statement aspire to be and I can not do that without this
statement. I think this statement is a
culmination of years of learning and growing.
Living the mission and values at Starbucks and
having that be at the core of my work has
inspired me to have my own mission statement
that I follow as well.
 Conclusion
Ten themes can not fully encapsulate who I am, but these ten themes give a great overview of my
personality. This assignment challenged me. It forced me to deeply reflect on my understanding of
myself and use resources to back up the things I believe about myself. I have a better
understanding of myself and am able to approach situations with a new perspective. As I work
through a difficult time in my work life, I value the work I put into this assignment because it gives
me direction. The value of this presentation has already been felt as I make tough decisions in
relation to my work and learn to advocate for myself as fiercely as I advocate for others.
References (example below)
16Personalities Test. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.16personalities.com/infj-personality
Big five personality test. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.123test.com/ personality-test/
Career Anchors Assessment. (n.d.)
DISC Test. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.123test.com/ personality-test/
Kuder Assessment. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://journey.kuder.com/
Stiver, R. (2022). OGL300 Module 3 Paper. [Unpublished manuscript] Arizona State University.
Stiver, R. (2023). Life Story Personal Narrative. [Unpublished manuscript] Arizona State
University.
Stiver, R. (2023). OGL482 Module 3 Prompt. [Unpublished manuscript] Arizona State University.
Stiver, R. (2023). OGL482 3 Questions. [Unpublished manuscript] Arizona State University.
Weebly. (2023) Retrieved from https://rstiver.weebly.com/