Living an Impact-Focused Life

What’s your Why?

I believe I was put on this earth to:

I believe I was put on this earth to live the sort of life I want to lead.

 

 

My purpose is to:

My purpose is to find success in what I do and be happy in the process.

 

 

I believe (my core values):

I believe there is good in everyone and that we can all contribute to a fruitful society.

 

 

The one thing I must do before I die is:

I must travel around the world and see many new sights before I die.

 

 

My advocates and supporters all believe I:

My supporters believe I can succeed if I try my best and pour passion into my goals.

 

 

The evil I want to eradicate in this world is:

I want to eliminate the kind of evil which systematically oppresses marginalized groups.

 

 

I want to work in order to:

I want to work in order to better my own future and to ensure our planet can continue to survive.

 

Walk the Talk – Your How

If you are truly committed to your Why, you show it in your everyday behavior. It is all air until you do it. Working from your Why, How do you prove that you are true to your Why in all you do?

 

I always:

I always strive to do the best I can, given my circumstances.

 

I never:

I never lie to myself. I am very honest with myself and try not to rely on false optimism or over pessimism.

 

My work style is:

My work style is detailed. I like to plan everything out before I begin to tackle assignments or problems. While I am working, I like to take a step back and look at the issue at hand logically.

 

I try to treat people:

I try to treat all people with respect and kindness.

 

I approach problems by:

I approach problems very rationally and logically. I like to plan out a variety of scenarios and weigh a cost-benefit analysis to find an appropriate solution.

 

Victories are time to:

Victories are time to celebrate and reflect on a job well done.

 

If another attacks my point of view I:

If another person attacks my point of view, I begin by listening to their perspective. Yet, I also like to follow up and rebuttal their argument, so that they can understand my point of view better and so that we can engage in dialogue surrounding the topic.

 

 

 

If I fundamentally do not agree with what an organization or person is doing, I will:

If I fundamentally agree with an organization, I will distance myself from them and make the move very transparent.

 

Your Credibility – Your Whats

You have just spent some considerable time at Lehigh, and specifically in the Global Social Impact Fellowship, on many whats. Your whats include lab research, formal presentations, writing research papers, engaging with people in other cultural contexts, building prototypes, designing and building systems, raising funds, hiring employees, etc. The whats you have collected along the way are critical to your credibility when you are entering the workforce or applying to the best graduate and professional schools. They signify a credible currency to which organizations can assign value. Create a list of your Whats that are truly reflective of your Why & How.  You did these things because you believe (Why) and you acquired them in the following (How) manner. These are examples you can use in interviews.

What Have I Done	List of Experiences, Accomplishments, and Lessons Learned
Degrees, Minors, Certificates, Fellowships	Pursuing a degree in International Relations and a minor in Political Science; GSIF; Eckardt Honors Program; GCP Certificate
Research Experiences	GSIF: Diagnosing Autism in Sierra Leone and Lehigh Youth Reps: Gender Equity and Gender-based Violence in Nigeria
Inventions and Innovations	Development of MCAST: Diagnosing Autism in Sierra Leone
(Social) Entrepreneurial Ventures	Development of MCAST: Diagnosing Autism in Sierra Leone
Publications (Formal and Informal)	Currently in the process of preparing papers for peer review regarding Diagnosing Autism in Sierra Leone and Gender-based Violence in Nigeria
Formal Presentations (at Lehigh and Beyond)
Awards and External Recognition	High school and local community recognitions of academic merit; Dean’s List; College of Arts and Science’ Honor Program

 

Articulating and learning from GSIF-related Experiences. For each of these prompts, we want you to identify one and only one specific and compelling event/incident/experience/moment and identify exactly how you grew personally and professionally through that moment.

Teamwork Experience (and Lessons Learned)	I found it is important to be direct and honest with your teammates, instead of having a laidback approach and compromising the quality of the work.
Conflict Resolution Experience (and Lessons Learned)	Usually when we have conflicts as a team, we listen to everyone’s perspective and logically decide on a resolution. This allows everyone to voice their opinions and allows us to move forward as a team on the same page.
Leadership Experience (and Lessons Learned)	I have had leadership experiences based on our tasks that needed to be achieved. When work is split up and distributed, it is up to the individual to take the lead and ensure a section is completed with accuracy, then it is important to relay that back to the team.   An example is during the beginning of the venture we each had areas of expertise. I was the cultural expert, so it was my role to focus on studying Sierra Leone’s culture and ways in which we would have to culturally tailor our screener.
Dealing with Chaos, Ambiguity, and Uncertainty (and Lessons Learned)	I have been lucky to be put in a team with Master’s and PhD students. Therefore, under their guidance, we have not usually dealt with many moments of uncertainty. Yet, when they have appeared we learned to rely on each other as a team.
Personally Challenging Experience (and Lessons Learned)	A personally challenging experience was beginning to work on our publications, and code existing work in order to help develop our own screener and studies. I have personally never undertaken this sort of work before, so it was very challenging to try something completely new. Yet, the lesson I learned was to persevere, and rely on my teammates and mentor for help and guidance.   In the past, I have always been very individualistic while working. I like to begin and finish work on my own, even in team settings. These past couple of months have really taught me to collaborate with my team.
Cross-cultural Experience (and Lessons Learned)	Unfortunately, compared to other more developed ventures, we have not yet hired employees. We also have not had the ability to travel for fieldwork and have had limited interactions with our partners in Sierra Leone.
An experience that helped you connect your GSIF work to your discipline / major.	My major is international relations. Most of the work that I have done with GSIF in one way or another relates back to international cooperation. I have learned the importance of recognizing various cultures and the importance of being able to work with them, not for them.
A moment that boosted your sense of agency and self-efficacy – you felt like you can speak for yourself, get stuff done, take on the world and make it better.	There isn’t a particular instance that comes to mind, but overall a collection of moments where I felt accomplished by achieving a desired purpose. Whether that be forming a team (interns campaigning for our senator), taking on a leadership role (running various fundraisers), or overall making myself heard (giving public speeches at events).
A moment where you felt like you truly have a strong sense of purpose and belonging in this dynamic, globalized interdependent world.	I’m still looking for this moment.