Question

Note: Please do not attempt to solve this assignment if you cannot fulfill all the requirements, review the "sample" journal and create the new one using the same format!!!

Write journal entry on a topic of your choice from any optional reading you may have done. You may write on any concept or insight that stands out to you that is relevant and useful to your life and work. You will write a journal entry of about one page describing how you have applied a concept or insight that you found especially relevant to yourself, your home, your job, your work situation, or your organization.

******************************************SAMPLE*********************************************

Acquire

Chapter one of Senge focuses on the disciplines of the learning organization and specifically highlights the fifth and most important discipline as systems thinking. The intent of this entry is to analyze my thought processes, or mental models, as they relate to systems thinking in my work organization and how that vision impacts the overall organization. I want to determine if I in fact have one of the learning disabilities, and if so, how I can successfully change that mindset.

Interpret

Understanding that the early chapters of Senge seem to focus on the organization, I wanted to first take an introspective look at myself to better understand how my thoughts and actions are integrating into the overall organization or team. Covey references the “lens through which we see the world,” and I feel it is important to first understand our individual tendencies so as not to cast a persuasive light upon the thoughts and actions of the larger organization.
Understanding what learning disabilities I have will ultimately shed some unbiased light on those of the larger organization and identify how I can become part of the solution. Beginning this journal assignment, I can admit that I often times find myself succumbing to blaming external factors, becoming fixated on events, and reactively responding to events instead of proactively tackling issues. In other words, I have a mental model of blaming external circumstances, rather than taking personal responsibility for things in my life and work, and I have a habit of being reactive, instead of being proactive.

Apply

Plan: In an effort to consciously analyze my thought processes throughout the day I made several notes to myself both on my computer and in the notebook that I carried with me. These notes centered on the seven learning disabilities. These served as reminders in an effort to focus on the task at hand and identify if I had learning disabilities, when they were prevalent, and how I can learn from these experiences. The intent was to reference the learning disabilities throughout the day to determine which one if any I was submitting to and capture the situation in which the disability surfaced.

Do: As with any plan I found that it had to be altered soon after I began my experiment. In the first meeting I quickly took a page of notes, flipped the page and the learning disabilities were quickly covered as I continued to turn pages. My quick reference soon was overcome by events and lost for the better part of the morning. After lunch on the first day I made it a point to quickly scribble down the disabilities at the start of each meeting and it served as a very good tactic and provided the essential focus that I needed to properly analyze my thoughts.

I quickly found that on several occasions over the next couple of days I became fixated on events and quickly found myself in a reactive mode. I would love to say that I had only one example however, last week identified numerous occasions where these disabilities surfaced. I will discuss one in detail which revolved around a billing issue where we were not being properly paid by the prime contractor on one of our task orders. In my haste, I immediately reacted by condemning the company as slow and prehistoric in their accounts payable procedures. I also spent the next hour focusing all my efforts on what I thought to be the issue only to find out that I had only scratched the surface. What I also realized about one hour into my efforts to fix the problem was that I had just experienced an instance where a learning disability impacted my efforts to proactively fix a situation.

Study: In the above example I exhibited at least two learning disabilities. The first of which was the illusion of taking charge and the second was the fixation on events. I immediately went into reaction mode and tried to fix the problem without taking a step back and determining how I as well as my company might have contributed to the problems. What was the bigger picture? How did this incident fit into the larger system and what other areas should I be reviewing as a result of this issue.
I did not realize this until I was typing out the event but I also placed blame on an external agent first before looking internally. Much of the problems surrounding this specific example revolved around the system that we (I) had set up on this contract. I was the cause of the issue yet it took me almost an hour to determine this because I found myself exercising a number of different learning disabilities.

Act: In the span of an afternoon, I became acutely aware that I have some areas that I need to work on in relation to learning disabilities. This experience has allowed me to identify my own issues and internalize the key indicators of a dysfunctional learner which will assist me in determining whether or not my organization is also hampered by these learning disabilities. Going forward, I have strategically placed reminders around my office of the above disabilities and I have internalized a greater systematic approach that first allows me to take a more strategic view of things and start with asking questions instead of reacting to situations and immediately blaming it on the “enemy”. I also feel it important to do another assessment in about a month to determine if I have truly learned from this experience.

Answer 1

Acquire

I have chosen the philosophy of converting one’s weakness to strength as my life mantra. Every person’s life has some or the other weakness. One should never run away from his weaknesses. Instead one should embrace the weakness and convert it into strength. A strategic tool called SWOT analysis is the best way of embracing this mantra in your life.

Interpret

In company interviews, this is the most common question asked- what are your strengths and weaknesses? It is very essential for every individual to introspect and identify the strengths and weaknesses of the overall self. Humans have a tendency to flaunt their strengths but when it comes to weaknesses, they tend to hide them. That should not be the case. Every individual must acknowledge his weakness and modify his life to change the weakness to strength. This way, the holistic personality of the individual is improved and he becomes a conqueror.

Apply

Plan

I plan to introspect and identify the traits that I feel, are my weaknesses. In my thoughts, time management is one of my greatest weaknesses. I am not able to keep a track of time and often end up in spending more time in a process, than is desired. Another weakness is that I am too emotional. I take everything to my heart, which often affects my work. After identifying, I will try to evolve my personality to work on my weaknesses.

Do

I have thought of following a time tracker for my daily activities. This way, I will be able to keep a track of time that I am spending in each process. For every class, I will try to be proactive and reach 10 minutes before its commencement. Even I will try to finish my assignments on time, by doing regular work, rather than exerting in the last minute. For tackling my emotional conscience, I have thought that I will try to be practical in my life. I will try to take things lightly. Sometimes, ignoring things also works.

Study

I have planned to read books focused on time management and employ the strategies referenced in my life. I will also keep a track of my personal SWOT analysis to identify any weakness that crops into my life over time. It is critical that one recognizes his weaknesses in the nascent state before it becomes a habit.

Act

I have been tracking my time and now I am able to finish my assignments way before the deadlines. Sometimes, I do get late for the morning classes, but I am working on my time management skills and one day, I will rule my time. My friends have observed that I have become emotionally stable over time. I have understood that not everything must be taken to heart and this mantra has really worked well in my life.