It
was the end of the first semester of my senior year in 2004. I was not the most
studious during my high school career, so I was in jeopardy of falling short of
graduation by a semester hour. The only option I had was to sacrifice my free
time that I earned and take a full schedule of classes for the last semester.
To an ordinary student, this decision was a no brainer. For me, however, the
decision was very hard. My family did not support education at all, which may
have been one of the reasons why I did not care about my education. My parents
gave me the option to drop out and work for my Dad, who started his own small business
a few years prior. I felt compelled to take their offer, but then an
overwhelming sense of responsibility and competitiveness came over me. I
enrolled into a full schedule of classes and successfully finished high school.
To this day, I am the only member of my immediate family to graduate from
college, and the second person to achieve this in my extended family.
This is where my achievement-oriented
spirit stems from. I enjoy challenging myself and completing difficult goals
because of the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment that comes with it. My
wife is a very good motivator and support system for me in my goal setting. I
typically take on leadership roles and difficult assignments at work,
especially if I haven’t done them before.
While I was deployed to Iraq in
2008, my wife and I had only been married for 2 years, and my son was 1 year
old. This was the first separation that we went through since being married and
it really took a toll on our marriage and relationship. There were a couple
close calls where my life was in real danger, and my health was in shambles.
When I returned my wife and I promised one another never to separate again. We
were not able to keep this promise, but we have continued to work on our relationship
and stay close to one another. We do almost every activity together, and I have
very little interaction with friends or co-workers outside of work because I
devote all of my time to my family.
I became a very compassionate and
devoted family man after our separation. My time and resources are geared
toward taking care of my family and giving them what they want and need. I
thoroughly enjoy spending time with them. This shows up at work because I have
a high relationship style of leading, and building relationships with my team members
and peers is extremely important.
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