LEADING.

Being comfortable in your own body is very important. It's a skill I am constantly trying to work on and improve in myself. A good way to start is becoming self aware. Knowing your personality, strengths & weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, emotions and motivations. It is important to learn and grow your self-awareness so you can make changes to your future. Living the purest form of yourself is essentially what we are all trying to do. I know that personally when I came to college I really started to understand what my individual beliefs, thoughts, and motivations are. Being able to step out from the shadows of your parents, you are finally able to just think about you and learn more about yourself. I'm very passionate about women' rights, fashion, family and friends. However, my weaknesses sometimes get in the way. I tend to try to make everyone else happy, don't think I'm good enough or smart enough, and procrastinate on everything. I have started to workout more, including yoga, which tends to help me meditate and reflect. Knowing yourself allows you to help others and lead in a productive and positive way.

Coming from a broken home I've had to learn how to overcome and deal with emotions from a young age. Although, I don't think it's till recent that I deal with them in a healthy way. A main thing I've learned to do is look at other people's perspectives in arguments. This helps control your emotions and be reasonable. I always make sure to look at all different parts and sides of everything before making my decision. For instance, when choosing what college I wanted to go to I looked at more than just the academics. Even then I thought I wanted to go to Iowa State but then I toured it. Being in the environment I immediately knew it wasn't the place for me. And that led me to MINNESOTA!!! I toured and fell in love immediately. Building trust is important in any relationship. Whether it be a friendship, business relationship, or romantic relationship. I think honesty is key. Even when it is hard or a difficult conversation to have, being honest about how you feel allows the other person to trust you. I, myself, have trust issues. I don't open up to just anyone and only trust people who are always there for me, emotionally and physically. Communication is essential in building trust. Being able to communicate your feelings with the other person is very important for a healthy relationship. Sometimes I am worried to tell my friends the truth because they will get upset and it will cause a fight. However, when there is an issue most the time it is best to just be upfront and deal with it. I am an introvert as well which makes it harder for me to be outgoing with people I have just met. However, once you get to know me and my goofy personality it's hard to get me to shut up. My closest friends would agree that sometimes I can be a little too brutally honest. I like to make jokes and just have a fun time. Although, I am also a very caring and genuine person. I believe I am moderately emotionally intelligent, since I give without expecting anything in return and know my strengths and weaknesses. However, there are times when my emotions get the best of me and I react before thinking. I try to make myself take in the emotions and process the situation before being irrational or overreacting.

My locus of control is mainly internal. I am goal oriented and work hard to complete them. I try to control my future and do change what ever is needed to get where I want to end up. Since I don't have a strong internal locus of control I tend to be able to accept situations I can't change. The quote I tend to turn to in hard times is "everything happens for a reason".

Self-management is having: self control, transparency, adaptability, achievement, initiative, and optimism. I don't participate in much self-management, but I do implement some of those skills. I believe that more people should have self-management because you'll then have a better understanding on your true self. Which then allows you to be the best version of yourself for others.

STRESS. Well let's just say I am a college student. So that automatically means I am best friends with stress. Not only do I experience stress with finals but I also have roommate issues, friend drama, and family problems. All these really pile up quickly, so it is important to learn how to manage stress. I will admit sometime, more like most the time, I do not handle stress very well. I tend to eat crapy, cry, and be the most anxious person ever. I have learned that personally if I have a lot on my mind I need to make LISTS. Lists are my best friend. It allows me to gather my thoughts and what I need to accomplish to reduce my stress. I have started doing more yoga as well, which helps me escape my thoughts and take time to just relax. My ultimate advice is to eliminate any people or other factors that bring you any unneeded stress.

Being a good listener, empathetic, and patient person allows me to be a better leader. As a leader you need to be able to listen to all your followers and truly understand their needs and wants. I believe my characteristics allow me to be an understanding and positive leader. I care about employees as people not just employers and a job. This is evident in how I display being a transformational leader. Which involves linking employees with the business' values. I try to be a good role model to influence others how to execute situations. When I was working at a bridal boutique I had to train and lead a lot of employees. A main way I trained them was showing the ways I did bridal appointments, responded to emails, looked up inventory and other things. It was the most efficient and effective way to train the employees because they reacted well to that sort of leadership. A disadvantage is that this process is more time consuming and duration depends on the individual. If the employee is a slow learner or not motivated by the organization's values then the process is way longer or could end if it is simply just not a good fit. At this job it was also very intrinsic reward based, which I believe is important. Being able to get a sense of accomplishment without always getting a physical reward is needed in the workplace. As a bridal consultant I had to persevere off of making someone's day and helping them find the dress of their dreams. I had to appreciate the small things like that when being on my feet for a ten hour workday with back to back appointments. It were the sweet rewarding moments that made the bridezillas worth it. However, at the end of the day if the hard work you are putting in isn't occasionally rewarded with extrinsic rewards, it becomes difficult. I worked at the bridal shop for about 4 years and worked my booty off. With the amount of work I was doing and the amount of money I made the owner, I believed I should get a raise. When I wasn't given that or an opportunity to reach one, I was burnt out from just being rewarded intrinsically. It wasn't cutting it anymore, I needed more.

I agree that Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg's Two Factor Theory are important in a workplace and management. It essentially breaks down the fundamentals to having successful and happy employees. Being able to acknowledge the basic, psychological, and self-fulfillment needs everyone needs as a manager will help you. Then you can personally assess the employees to make sure those are met and if they aren't, figure out how to help them become achieved. It is also pretty common knowledge that if you improve the factors of dissatisfaction, like hygiene, then it declines job dissatisfaction. Same with job satisfaction if you improve the reasons they enjoy their job then it will only increase.

Empowerment is very relevant, especially female empowerment. I'm passionate about female empowerment and also think everyone should feel like they matter and care. Every single person has rights and a say. If you feel empowered in that way then you feel like you can do and change anything. It is very motivating to be empowered. When I had power and responsibilities at my job I felt motivated to succeed and push myself harder. Sometimes people may ridicule you for voicing you're empowerment, which can be difficult. If we have learned anything from current events, I believe everyone should feel empowered and motivated to go for what they believe in. Being able to communicate in teams and feel powerful as one collaborative unit is important. Teams allow you to hear different perspectives and have a more diverse outlook on things. Leading teams sometimes is difficult, especially if everyone isn't effectively collaborating. It is important that the leader makes sure everyone is being respectful of one another.

Overall, leadership is a very important and valuable skill. Even if you don't think you are a leader, most of us have good fundamental skills to become a great leader. In the simplest form, leading is truly just being able to listen and communicate effectively.

XO,