Talk wheel discussion 3

Through out my life I have had numerous people impact my life. They shaped me into the person I am today. I do not think I could talk about who I am as a leader without mentioning what they have done for me. Most of it started when I was in high school. Like I have said before I was pretty involved in high school. I got involved in leadership right away as a freshman. Being a freshman in leadership was a little difficult because sometimes I felt like my opinions did not matter to the upperclassmen. That experience taught me to listen to those above me and just because you are young does not mean that you do not matter. And then in 2009 my  then pastor had asked me to join the worship team (which composed of him singing and his wife playing the piano). I was very reluctant but I eventually said yes. I did not think of myself to be in a 'leadership' role but looking back now I think it was. I lead them into worship. I felt incompetent because I did not feel like I was holy enough. But the Lord definitely used that time to shape my opinion of myself and I grew deeper into my faith at that time. In 2010 I became a mentor to a few middle school students. I just hung out with them after school a little bit and tutored them. We had fun but we also got stuff done. I provided a safe place for them to go after school where they could not get into trouble. In 2011 (my senior year) I was a cadet teacher in a seventh grade math class. That definitely shaped me as a leader. That brought out my teacher side and made me learn how to be more authoritative with people.

I know that I have not really talked about the people who have influenced me, I'm getting there. I thought that I should go in chronological order. The year that really shaped, stretched and grew me was my first year at North Central. I have never in my life had so many people pour into me and really speak life into me. It all started with my RA. She took me under her wing from the moment I got to North Central. We grew really close and she showed me a different side to leadership. She was my friend but also my mentor. I could go to her with anything and I knew she was there without judgement and was always there to pray for me. Then I met another girl on my floor, Kristin, who has probably had the biggest impact on my life. She has really shown me what it is like to be a woman of God and she exemplifies that in every way. She has been nothing but caring and supportive to me. She is always just a phone call away no matter how many miles may be between us. She is the one who really helped me decide to be a DL. I am so glad to have these people in my life. I know that are many more but I do not want to ramble for too much longer.

3: Renewal

Right now in my current leadership role I feel excited! I continually am seeking new opportunities with the ladies on my floor and I just have the energy to keep going (most of the time). It takes a lot to keep yourself energized. You really have to know what brings you down and what you can do to keep that energy level up. You have to be self-aware. In order to stay energized you should know what people expect from you and then you should have resources available to you that you can use to do your work right. You also need someone or multiple people in your life that recognize all of the hard work you are putting in and tell you how great you are doing. You also need someone in your life who truly cares about you as a person and how you are doing. I know that if I did not have people in my life like that I would not make it through the week. In order to stay energized you have to feel like your opinions matter and that you can contribute to your group or team.

An activity that makes me feel renewed is when I am able to get off campus or even off of my floor and just hangout with friends from last year or maybe just by myself and have time to chill and not feel like I have to set the example or anything. I can just relax. I make it a regular habit to go to my friend's apartment every Wednesday for lunch and we just chill and talk or sometimes nap. It is something that I look forward to every week. On the other hand, sometimes I struggle with taking care of my well-being. I love to be around people and I have a hard time saying no. So whenever someone asks me to do something I normally say yes. Sometimes I put that ahead of things like sleep or homework or just me time, which we all need. But I have been getting better at saying no and prioritizing a little better.

Something that you need to watch out for when you are in leadership is being burned out. You are constantly pouring out into people and you are not really taking care of yourself. It can happen when we try and do things on our own and we are "too busy doing things for God instead of spending time with Him." As an extravert I can definitely relate to that. I try to do so much on my own and say that I can do it because God has put me in this position for a reason. But I do not take the time to stop and think that although that is true, he also wants to still have that relationship with me and have me cast all of my cares on Him and fully rely on Him. Anne Jackson said it best, "He wants us to have an abundant life resting in Him…not freaking ourselves out “doing stuff” for him."

2: Do you really know yourself?

What does it mean to truly know yourself? Does it mean that you know what you like and do not like? Do you know how far you can push yourself or what you can and cannot handle? I believe that in order for someone to truly know themselves they must know the Lord and who they are in Him. They have to find their self worth and their identity in Christ.

Thomas Merton once said, "There is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace, and my happiness depend. To discover myself in discovering God. If I find Him I will find myself and if I find my true self I will find Him." No one knows you better than God, he created you. To know yourself like He knows you can be a very difficult thing. In order to do that you have to really figure out who Christ is. God created man in his image and our ultimate goal is to be like Him. We must find who we are in Him and be completely satisfied with that. 

Another thing that will help you truly know yourself is if you are self aware. Some people are more self-aware than others. Being self-aware is a good thing. It can help you better understand yourself and how you can be in different surrounding or situations. I would like to think that I have a pretty high level of self awareness. I know when it is appropriate to be loud and crazy and when you just need to be chill. And that can change depending on the people you are with. It is good to have someone in your life that is there to kind of call you out and make you aware of certain behaviors that you have or may need to change. I know that my mom used to call me out all of the time. She made me be more self-aware.  

There are tools out there to help you be more self-aware and the Meyers-Briggs personality test is one of those tools. I have talked about this personality test before so we know the basics of it. And one again my results are ESFJ or Extrovert, Sensing, Feeling, and Judging. An extrovert is someone who gets their energy from others. They love to be with people, that definitely is me. Overall someone who has the same results as me is a 'caregiver'. I agree with my results. 

1: The Role of a Follower

Let's talk about leadership! I believe Nelson Mandela described leadership the best when he said, "it is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership." Leading from behind...that is a concept that most of us have never really thought about. When we think of leaders we think of someone who stands in the front and guides his or her group from out front. But a great leader is one that leads from behind and takes the journey with the group and lets the followers be the ones to shine. 


 "The first follower is what transforms a lone nut into a leader." Followers have a very important job because if there were no followers we would not have leaders. There are many different types of followers but I would like to focus on just four types: partner, resource, implementer and an individualist. A resource is someone who does not really challenge the leader and is not very supportive. They are just kind of there. An implementer is a person who is super supportive but does not really challenge the leader, they just do what they are told. An individualist is someone who is always challenging the leader but is not supportive. It is almost as if they should be doing their own thing. On the other hand a partner is someone who really supports their leader but also challenges their ideas (only to make them better). They do not just follow out orders with out questioning. They ask questions to understand the purpose and they want to work together to achieve their goal. I believe that is the type of follower I am. 

I would like to think that the image above is a metaphor for the type of leader I am. I chose a car because when you look at it you see just one thing. What you do not really think about is all of the little things that make up the car. Every little part is working together to compose one larger things with one main goal. The car is made up of parts that work together to make the car run. As a leader I would like my followers and myself to work together to achieve one common goal for the good of all of us. 

The role of leaders and what kind of leaders there are is ever changing. As our world changes so does the leaders in it...to some extent. I do not believe that the influence of technology is going to effect what type of leaders there are. I think that technology can be used as a tool to get more people connected together easier. However, I believe that in order to be an effective leader you have to not hide behind the internet or social media you have to embrace it and use it as a tool but it has to be more than that. You must have integrity, honesty and morals. I believe that will never change.