4. Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
I have never had a lot of self-confidence and looking back on my life I now realize how much that has affected my personal and educational choices, especially during my college years. I made decisions that probably weren't in my own best interest because I doubted my abilities and let other peoples' opinions influence me. This held me back from accomplishing the educational goals I had set for myself when I was a teenager, and even now that I'm older I often let that seed of doubt creep into my consciousness when contemplating my goals and plans for the future.
7. teach/mentor others
This is an area where I actually do feel quite confident about my abilities. If there is a topic or issue or project I'm familiar with and I'm asked to present it to, or discuss it with, my friends or coworkers I usually really enjoy the opportunity and the interaction it involves. While normally quite shy, this is one situation where I surprise even myself at how self-assured I can be! Considering I changed my mind about being a high school English teacher because my shyness (especially in college) was so crippling that I couldn't even take a Speech class, it's apparent to me that over the years I've mostly conquered that problem. My work in Social Services has also involved a lot of teaching and mentoring over the years and definitely improved those skills.
