In this project I finally faced myself in the mirror and looked deeply into what I saw. I examined every part of the young woman standing in front of me, how her brain worked, her ambitions, her strengths, her weaknesses, and what really made her, her. I learnt about her thoughts and ideas, hobbies and values, even the important parts of her she didn’t want anyone to know about. I also learnt about her experiences, the people she surrounds herself with, and everything that has helped shape the person she is.

 

 

The self-exploration journey started with self-assessment work, which I quite enjoyed. I know many people dislike thinking about their future but its my favourite thing to plan. I have always been very focused on my future and I implement that into everything I do. Every piece of homework I submit, every soccer game I play, and every decision I do, I think about how I am setting myself up for the future. This project really excited me because I cannot wait to start my career, and planning it is just as fun.

But since I’ve always been very focused on what I want to do I have also put a great deal of thought into who I am. I’ve thought about how people perceive me, how I would react in situations, what I am like, and why I am like this. Because of this I already had a good picture of myself painted in my mind, so it was harder to learn more about myself in this project. But! I do think that I learnt a few new things about myself!

What I learnt about myself in my self-assessment work

When looking back at the self-assessment work I completed I realized something, everything that I had said pertained to me had all fallen under these 5 adjectives I highlighted at the start of the project. All of my employability skills, soft/hard skills, results to my career/personality tests, Myblueprint survey results, and even my goals can all fall under the 5 categories: Organized, Independent, Creative, Determined, and Good Listener. I find this very interesting how certain of a person I am, and I do not change. I also believe that these 5 traits (backed up by the information I wrote about in my self assessment work) would make me a great lawyer, which is my career choice.

 

What I learnt about myself is that I am in fact who I say I am. I have always said that I would be a great lawyer, and I have proof of that now. I also learnt that these 5 adjectives about myself are real, and will actually help me out in my career.

My organization skills will help me see the details in my work (#7 from the video) and help keep me properly prepared and confident in the idea I bring forward (#5 from the video)

My independence skills will help me continue fighting for what I believe in (#4 from the video) even if no one else has my back

My creativity skills will help me find unique ways to see every side of the story (#2 from the video) and then express what I find in a way that will grab people’s attention

My determination skills will help me not back down from arguing for what I believe in (#3 and #8 from the video)

My listening skills will help me see different angles of stories by paying close attention (#2 and #7 from the video) and stay true to my morals to keep secrets (#10 from the video)

This proves that my 5 adjectives will help me in my career, and even as a student in school

 

What I have learnt about myself while preparing my pitch 

I watched the people around me madly typing away and panicking about finishing writing their pitch as I just stood in a room and talked to myself.

The Band and Choir kids of my class (the majority) went on a field trip to Whistler. When we came back we all had to work hard to catch up on the days of school work we had missed. I felt quite worried and behind knowing I only had a few days until my pitch to the dragons. But then one night while showering I started putting together what I wanted to say. While showering I had almost written my entire pitch inside my head. A few days later without a single word written down I knew exactly what I was going to say and I was confident in my presentation. I practiced presenting to a few people such as friends like Caden, Judah, and Hannah, teachers like Kate and Ms Madsen, and then most frequently my mom. I presented in front of these people over and over whenever I could, then when I couldn’t I went over my speech in my head.

In conclusion what I learnt was that I didn’t need to follow the exact path that everyone else was taking. I learnt to trust myself in knowing what works best for me, even if everyone around me had concerns about how I was doing it. I also learnt that repetition is what helps me create my best work. Repeating my lines over and over again creates a sense of confidence that I don’t know I have for a project. This also happened in the Seattle project when I had to present a PechaKucha in front of many people. I had practiced my lines so much that I knew exactly what to say with no hesitation. So I’m sorry mom but in the future you will still be forced to listen to me ramble on about the exact same topic for weeks, and then just when you think it’s over I’ll be doing it again but with a new topic.

What I learnt from my experience of pitching to the dragons

Fake it till you make it! 
I have lived by this motto my whole life, as there is constantly a situation I have to be in where I’m pretending to be something. There is a possibility I am actually the type of person I’m pretending to be, but I truly don’t feel like in the moment, so in all meaning of the word I’m still ‘pretending’. During soccer games, I pretend to be the strong confident and optimistic leader I know my team needs me to be, even if I know deep down we are definitely going to lose the game. If my friends need me because they are in trouble or just need someone to talk to I am always there. I pretend to be the calm and happy friend who always knows what to do and say, even if I’m completely shaken by what they just told me. Then especially at school when I need to present something or share my learning I pretend the most. I pretend to be a high-performing, confident academic who is proud yet humble, even though I always have doubts. Pretending is a way of life for me, and it has gotten me very far. What the people around me need is who I can become. I’m not most confident, upbeat, intelligent, and strong person, but people don’t need to know that. So I will continue faking it, and I will keep making it.

During the preparation of my pitch to the dragons I knew this presentation I was about to do would involve of a lot fake it till you make it. Although I enjoy public speaking it still terrifies me. All year I have been volunteering as much as I can to do public speaking roles as some kind of an exposure therapy. I have volunteered to do the morning announcements, speak at assemblies, be a PLP ambassador, be an MC (master of ceremonies) for PLP events and the grade 8 retreat for next year. All of these events have horrified me and still do, but I can see an improvement. To be a great speaker you cannot look scared and unconfident in your presentation. To be a great speaker you have to act like you know what you are saying and you are proud to be saying it.

In my preparation I knew the only way that I could come off as a good speaker, was if I knew exactly what I was going to say. I also had to be confident and proud in the things I was saying. Although I did end up practicing a lot (enough to make my mom sick of hearing my voice ever again) I thought I would still have to put on an act when I walked into the dragons den. The day of my presentation I couldn’t stop thinking of it. All day while trying to do my other school work I just heard in my head…

My name is Brooke I am 16 years old and I am here today to receive your feedback on how I blahhh blahhh blah 

I knew I was scared (who wasn’t) but what I didn’t realize until a few minutes before my pitch, was that I was also truly confident. This wasn’t an act it was me feeling truly proud of the hard work I’ve put in to be where I am and finally be able to talk about it. I could now prove myself and show that everything I’ve done has not been for nothing. I could now explain how much I’ve sacrificed, and feel comfort in knowing there was a reason behind it all.

A few minutes before my pitch I sat at my table, just sitting and thinking. I felt proud in what I was about to present, and comfortable in my abilities to present it. I looked at the time and got up to walk to my dragon. I entered the room and saw who I’ve been fearing all week, but I wasn’t worried in that moment. I had something to prove and I knew how I was going to do it.

Patricia Houlihan was kind, straightforward, and very smart. She presented herself in a way where you quickly knew she could win any argument she wanted. The first thing I realized about her wasn’t how much she could judge and tear into me for the next 12 minutes, but that we dressed the exact same way.

So I started my speech and I spoke it well. I proudly explained my experiences and accomplishments, I also spoke about my past weaknesses and how far I’ve come since then. I finished strong saying the same ending I have been planning all week, and I felt comfortable standing there. She asked me a few questions which I also felt comfortable answering as I had planned a few answers beforehand. But then it was over, weeks and weeks of stressful unconfident preparation and it was over. I couldn’t believe how easy it was, how stress free I felt presenting, and how proud I was of myself. In the end she gave me a 10/10 but I just needed those numbers to prove to the people around me how I’d done, I already knew myself that I had done great.

Now I’m standing here, staring in the mirror once again. The woman in front of me is beaming, her smile ear to ear, her hands tightly clenching her resume, and her eyes more eager than they’ve ever been before.