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WA8. Written Assignment 8

Statement

For this activity, reflect on the principles of emotional intelligence and what utilization of these principles can help you achieve. Then, create a visually engaging infographic addressing personal and professional aspirations, with clear and concise information presented in a creative format. Specifically, in your infographic be sure to:

  • Create one SMART goal for your personal life and one for your professional life. Ensure all SMART goals are clearly defined, with measurable criteria and realistic timelines.
  • Include at least three visual representations of emotional intelligence principles that you are integrating into both your personal and professional life.
  • Reflective analysis should include at least two strengths and two areas for improvement; one for personal development and one for professional development.
  • The actionable plan should be comprehensive, outlining specific steps and resources for development.

Answer

1. Creating a SMART Goal for Personal and Professional Life

SMART goals are easy to understand. achievable, and have a clear point of success. They have 5 characteristics: Specific: goal is clear and well-defined. Measurable: goal can be tracked and evaluated. Achievable: goal is realistic and attainable. Relevant: goal is important and meaningful. Time-bound: goal has a deadline or time frame (Scarbrough, 2023).

My professional goal is to become a senior embedded systems software engineer within 5 years:

  • Specific:
    • To become a Senior Software Engineer who specializes in embedded systems for medical devices.
    • The embedded field is a specialization that builds systems designed to perform closer to the hardware.
    • The medical devices field is an inner section of the embedded field that focuses on medical hardware.
  • Measurable:
    • To become a Senior Software Engineer, I need to have at least 5 years of experience.
    • To graduate with a Master’s degree in the field of embedded systems, by the end of the 5 years.
    • To spend 5 hours per week on personal projects that are related to the field.
  • Achievable:
    • To work in a company that specializes in embedded systems for medical devices.
  • Relevant:
    • The acquired knowledge will help me to boost my career and financial situation.
  • Time-bound:
    • The goal should be achieved in 5-7 years.
    • 2-3 years for the Master’s degree, and 2-3 years for the experience.

My personal goal is to own my first house within 5 years:

  • Specific:
    • To own a house in the city of London.
    • The house should have at least 2 bedrooms.
    • The house should be located in zones 5-7 (North West London is preferred).
  • Measurable:
    • To save £10,000 per year for the next 5 years.
    • To have a total of £50,000 saved by the end of the 5 years.
    • The creditors can give up to 5 times the annual salary and require a 10% deposit.
  • Achievable:
    • This is hard with the current salary and cost of living in London, but we should cut unnecessary expenses.
    • Looking for extra income sources after graduation.
  • Relevant:
    • The house will provide a stable living environment for the family.
  • Time-bound:
    • The house should be bought by the end of the 5 years.
    • With the rise of cost-of-living and house prices, this may be stretched to 7 years.

2. Integrating Emotional Intelligence Principles

All four components of emotional intelligence (EI) are equally important in both personal and professional life. Self awareness, self regulation, social awareness, and relationship management form the basis of integrating EI principles into daily life.

Self awareness is the ability to recognize and correctly interpret one’s own emotions. In professional life, self awareness can help people recognize their best communication styles, stress triggers, and work preferences, allowing them to adapt, communicate effectively, and limit stress (Healix, 2023). In personal life, self Awareness lets individuals recognize their emotions, triggers, and their responses to conflict; thus, they are less likely to react impulsively, escalating situations, or saying things they regret (Woffindin, 2024)

Self regulation is the ability to act correctly based on the identified emotions. In professional life, self regulation can help people manage their stress levels, maintain focus, and avoid engaging in unproductive behaviors and conflicts; thus, reducing stress and teamwork challenges. In personal life, self regulation gives individuals more control over their responses when they are part of a conflict or trying to resolve one.

Social awareness is the ability to understand the emotions of others. In professional life, social awareness can help people understand their subordinates’ perspectives, emotions, and needs, fostering empathy which reduces conflicts and fill in the gaps in the workplace policies. In personal life,social awareness helps you understand the emotions and perspectives of others, which is crucial in conflict resolution and conflict prevention.

Relationship management is the ability to communicate your response based on the data gathered using the social awareness. In professional life, relationship management can help people build strong relationships with their teams and other stakeholders; this relationships can defines the workplace culture and the level of trust and collaboration within the organization. In personal life, relationship management techniques such as effective communication, active listening, and empathy can help in easing tensions and finding common ground (Woffindin, 2024).

3. Reflective Analysis on Personal and Professional Development

In personal life, I have a good level of self awareness and relationship management, but I need to improve my self regulation and social awareness. For personal self awareness, I am good at recognizing my internal emotions and triggers as I keep optimistic and positive attitude towards life that keeps me happy and motivated. For personal relationship management, I have built strong, stable, and healthy relationships especially when I moved a new country and had to start all over.

For personal self regulation, I am not good at sticking to my plans and schedules as I quit and start again smoking multiple times in my life; I also procrastinate most of my tasks to the last minute. For personal social awareness, I am not good at conveying my messages easily to others as I usually hurt their emotions with my bald and direct words; I am also bad at discussions as I get angry and frustrated easily when I see people disagreeing with me over political or social issues.

In professional life, I have a good level of self awareness and self regulation, but I need to improve my social awareness and relationship management. For professional self awareness, I am good at knowing my internal strength points; and I was able to make a smooth career shift from pharmacy fo software engineering which matches more my personal profile. For professional self regulation, I am good at prioritizing my tasks and managing my workload effectively both time and effort wise; I am also good at managing my stress levels and keeping my focus on the tasks.

For professional social awareness, I am not good at understanding the emotions of my colleagues and their perspectives which may cause some small conflicts but I try not escalate them relying on effective communications with my managers and self regulation. For professional relationship management, I am not good at networking and building new connections; I say to my self that my work nature is far from people but that is not a justification for low networking skills.

4. Actionable Development Plan for Personal and Professional Life

Actionable plan for personal development may include scheduling mindfulness and meditation sessions; setting clear routines for daily chores such as morning and evening routines; doing more physical exercises to keep the body and mind healthy; recording reflections, feelings, and thoughts in a timely-scheduled journal; limiting screen time and social media usage; seeking an enjoyable hobby or activity either alone or with others; and implementing a suitable reward system that keeps me motivated and happy.

Actionable plan for professional development may include expanding my professional knowledge with regular reading and courses; seeking more opportunities for networking and building connections; seeking mentorship and coaching from senior colleagues; requesting feedback from colleagues and managers; practicing better communication skills and active listening to extract more information from meetings; and seeking opportunities for collaboration and teamwork to improve career growth potential.

References