What is challenging about self-reflection? How can you continue to build the habit of self-reflection at Turing?
Self-reflection is challenging as it generally revolves around highlighting areas of the self which call for greater attention than has been focused on them in the past, and most importantly, that heightened awareness calls for changing that part of the self. It is often difficult to embrace that as an invitation to make positive adjustments, rather than becoming too self-critical and experiencing those highlighted characteristics as points of failure or defensiveness. Even despite recognizing and wanting to improve upon the aspects highlighted through deeper self-reflection, actually making the small changes to affect the habits that fuel those tendencies can be extremely difficult to weave in to daily life. I really appreciate that Turing does place so much emphasis on self-reflection and growth. I find myself eager to engage in the process, but would like to work on bringing that awareness into the more present moment than as a later reflection. Additionally, I often do get twisted into self-criticism or feeling that I don't know what the best way to actualize the relevant changes may be, and embracing the feedback process with peers/cohort-mates already seems like a helpful way to direct those intentions.
First, create you own social identity map on a piece of paper (or print this out):
Outer ring: write words that describe your given identity Middle ring: list aspects of your chosen identity Center: write your core attributes—traits, behaviors, beliefs, values, characteristics, and skills that you think make you unique as an individual. Select things that are enduring and key to who you are.
Underline the items that are important to you Put a + beside the items that you believe clearly demonstrate that you fit into the tech industry Put a - beside the items that you believe do not demonstrate that you fit into the tech industry Put a ? beside the items that you’re unsure how they could show your ability to contribute to the tech industry
What does your social identity tell you about what you already bring to the tech industry? What would it look like for some of your minuses or question marks to turn into pluses? In other words, how could some of these traits be assets for the tech industry?
Values mapping Pull out 5 values for each bullet below from this list:
Always valued: Balance, Respect for People, Learning, Problem Solving, Communicating
Often valued: Competence, Usefulness, Growth, Determination, Integrity
Sometimes valued: Creativity, Courage, Orderliness, Persistence, Self-Respect
Seldom valued: Pressure, Obedience, Tradition, Patriotism, Temperence
What do these values tell you about yourself?
Summarize what good, worthwhile work means to you (Tip: this is NOT about what work you want to do but about why work matters to you):
Lifeview: summarize what you value in life; what matters to you? Where do your views on work and life complement each other? Where do they clash? Does one drive the other? How?
For me, worthwhile work will involve meaningful contributions to projects which have a useful, considerate and positive impact on the lives of others, particularly to uplift threatened or under-served communities/areas.
In the exercise above, it seems that the absolute term 'always' lead the fitting values to be more abstract / over-arching. Those considered 'often valued' are generally more concrete / utilitarian and seem to speak to a larger organization dynamic, while those I listed as 'sometimes valued' feel more connected to an individual perspective or circumstance.
I aspire to a greater sense of balance and courage for both work and life (respectively and together), yet often find myself leaning into more exteme pressure, determination and responsibility, and safety.