Blog Entry #6

After taking the Drive Survey, I was considered a Type X Behavior Driven person. I feel as though it is difficult for me definitely state my own sentence, as I sometimes wonder if as I work towards certain purposes, I may fall short of my goals. However, the sentence which I strive to work towards everyday is to inspire others through diligence in any work I do, whether it is an easy or difficult task.
While mentoring at Cargill, I had the opportunity to discuss job tasks of the PR team. This team has taken many steps to ensure the motivation of their employees. Mostly they provide opportunities for promotion within the company, soley based on the worker's success. However, they believe that this success is formed from diligence and hard work. Cargill also has a major problem in maintaining the number of female engineers at the plant. They believe these ladies feel insecure working with such a large male population and therefore they have begun providing day care services and many benefits which females would enjoy like luxurious bathrooms and breakrooms and such. Cargill also holds monthly managering meetings to discuss events that may hearten the workers. For example, over the Easter holidays, Cargill had an Easter egg hunt free to all employees which gave away candy and prizes just to lighten the mood of the company and allow the workers to feel appreciated for all their hard work.
One of the biggest challenges I have ever faced is training for a half marathon. I have always been a endurance-type runner, but my distances were mostly limited to 5Ks and such. Inspired by my beloved English teacher, I began to desire to go beyond my comfort zone and try something new by setting a goal of running a half marathon. So beginning in August of last year, I started training slowly but surely for the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon. There were so many days I simply did not want to get out there and run, and on those rainy weeks it seemed so easy to just "skip out" on training. However, through determination I perservered because I knew that training was the only way I would accomplish my ultimate goal. I can remember many days dreading my long runs, afraid of simply getting out there and going for it. However, it seemed as though once I started running everything died and I could be at peace with myself, which is why I love running in the first place. I continued to work hard at this training, up until the very week of the race. The day before Thanksgiving I was so extremely nervous I couldn't even stand straight. I had no idea what to expect and whether I would be able to make it through the race. However, I had a goal to simply keep running the entire time, even if it was at a snail's pace. So I got up at 4 in the morning on Thanksgiving day and drove to Atlanta, where I completed the race in 2 hours and 7 minutes. I still cannot believe I completed such a task and I someday hope to do it again. I cannot describe the feeling of crossing the finish line and the joy this accomplishment brought me. It made me feel as though I am strong enough to take on any task, and truly, I am.