Task

Almost to the finish line of our course COMO 225 (Communicating Professional Identity & ePortfolios), it is here we broach the area of communication skills: writing. Writing has always been a passion for me but making myself sit down to achieve the goal of writing a paper on a Professional Development Plan in week 6 has been a challenge. We are to create our goals and use our Career Assessment paper from week 4 and infuse them together to accomplish communicating our ability to show what we have retained in the course thus far.

Action

To successfully complete this task, I had to first get very vague descriptions of the goals I knew I wanted to document for the 5-year plan. These are two obtainable goals using the SMART goal setting model. I made sure to visit the weekly reading & resources for the week and lots of inspirational quotes on the subject (SMART goals) on Pinterest. My goals, at this time, were just jotted down in maybe one sentence with the intention to expound on each. Next, I line up the sources I will be using in the article; this includes our school textbook, an article from Fast Company, the Occupational Outlook Handbook, and a podcast I frequent.  The refining process meant reworking the introduction from the week 4 paper, per the Professor and feedback, and then figuring out where and how to word in the goals for the new addition to the week 4 paper. Once the goals are clarified and expounded upon, the closing paragraph must be drafted. With the paper finished in its entirety, now I can proofread making needed changes along the way. Once finalized, I then make sure to organize the pages according to their proper order making sure the title and reference pages are included. Last, I convert the paper to a PDF Format and then submit it for grading.                                                                                                                     

Result

Overall, this assignment has awakened a long-awaited re-motivation of sorts for the chosen educational and career path ahead. When we fall down, we should get back up and focus on the moments, people, and times that give us life rather than what takes it away. This is one way to help us stick to our goals. Also, a helpful tip is there are tons of smart goals worksheets on Pinterest for those who want something a little more ethically pleasing to use.  The assignment allows for our communication skills of writing to shine and develops a plan that we can actually implement now-today at ground zero.