Describe a time you practiced self-leadership when you wanted to complete a task

Describe a time you practiced self-leadership when you wanted to complete a task. With reference to each step in the self-leadership process describe what you did to achieve this success.Support your answer by utilizing research that you have gathered from at least 2 sources other than your text. Finally be sure to cite your sources in APA formatting.A detailed and thoughtful response to the topic is required (minimum of 500 words). RUBRIC IS ATTACHED BELOW.Additionally emphasis is placed on your ability to conduct and synthesize scholarly research. Your posts should be professional in content and follow the APA standards. Be sure to city your sources in APA formatting.SAMPLE RESPONSE: Self-leadership is the procedure of utilizing self-motivation to create the self-direction and self-motivation that is required to complete a task (McShane & Von Glinow 2013 p. 182). The concept of self-leadership includes tools from behavioral activities derived from social cognitive theory and goal setting and constructive thought procedures (McShane & Von Glinow 2013 p. 182). There are five main undertakings that occur during the self-leadership process (McShane & Von Glinow 2013 p. 182). When I made the goal to get my Bachelor s Degree in Accounting I went through the self-leadership process. The first main step in the self-leadership process is personal goal setting. After a year of taking basic classes and not know what I wanted to do I ended up in the Principles of Accounting class. This was when I decided I wanted to get my undergrad degree in accounting. This was a long-term goal that was very challenging for me at the time. I had a lot of credits left to get and a lot of credits that were not going to count towards my degree. However I knew that I wanted to go into the accounting field and that it was my passion so I was completely focused on achieving this goal. The next step in the self-leadership process is constructive thought patterns. Before we begin and while we are executing a task we should partake in constructive or positive thoughts about the task (McShane & Von Glinow 2013 p. 182). To farther motivate and prepare ourselves we should participate in positive self-talk and mental imagery (McShane & Von Glinow 2013 p. 182). Getting your bachelor s degree is a long process. Every semester class and test counts towards your end degree and your GPA. To keep myself motivated I would congratulate myself for every good grade I received on tests. I would motivate myself at the beginning of each class by getting excited about it and telling myself I could get an A in that class. Then I usually would. I would also envision myself being able to tell people that I had my Bachelor s Degree in Accounting. I imagined how proud I was of myself for achieving this goal and it helped push me to achieve it. For me utilizing mental imagery made me feel as though failure was not an option. I was going to achieve my goal even if I had no time to rest. The subsequent step is designing natural rewards. In this step we can make work more motivating by modifying tasks and work relationships (McShane & Von Glinow 2013 p. 184). To incorporate natural rewards we can change the way we accomplish tasks (McShane & Von Glinow 2013 p. 182). Throughout my undergrad career there were times I would change the way I would study for tests. This would keep this task from being so repetitive and help keep me motivated to accomplish good grades on all of my tests. After this step is self-monitoring. This step is where you track the progress of your goal at regular intervals (McShane & Von Glinow 2013 p. 182). When I was getting my degree I had a lot of ways to self-monitor my progress. On a micro level I could see the grade I received on each test in each class. On a larger scale I could see what my GPA was each semester. On an even larger level I could look at my overall GPA for every class I had ever taken. Another way I self-monitored my progress was to look at how many credits/classes I had completed and how many I had left to complete. The last step in the self-leadership process is self-reinforcement. In this step you have control over a reinforcer but you wait until you complete a self-set goal to take the reinforcer (McShane & Von Glinow 2013 p. 182). When creating my schedule I would balance out my classes by mixing classes I was very interested in with classes I did not wish to take at all. For example I hate English class so I would balance this out by taking a class I love like math or accounting. Using the self-leadership process helps us in completing goals. Sometimes we go through the process without even knowing. Utilizing self-leadership in our lives helps us to be motivated disciplined and dedicated to achieving our goals (Cardinal Solutions n.d.). It is also important to set the right goals. When organizations are setting goals for employees they need to find a balance between too difficult of goals and too easy of goals (Ashkenas 2012). When we set personal goals for ourselves we need to find this balance as well. If we set goals that are too difficult to achieve we may give up before we can reach them or they may be unattainable. If we set goals that are too easy there will not be a challenge and we will not have the opportunity to push ourselves to be our best.ReferencesAshkenas R. (2012 July 9). Seven mistakes leaders make in setting goals. Retrieved January 15 2014 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/ronashkenas/2012/07/09/seven-mistakes-leaders-make-in-setting-goals/Cardinal Solutions. (n.d.). Mastering you: The importance of self-leadership. Retrieved January 15 2014 from http://www.cardinalsolutions.biz/blog/bid/266901/Mastering-You-The-Importance-of-Self-LeadershipMcShane S. L. & Von Glinow M. A. (2013). Organizational behavior (6th ed.). New York NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
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