I am about halfway into my first year as a full-time student affairs professional. At this midway point, I have come to see how true it is that I am still learning every day. Here are the two major things that I have learned since starting back in July.
Spending fun time with residents
Do Not Let Fear Get in Your Way
Fear of failing, fear of people not liking you, fear of over stepping. These are just a few fears that are real and can hold you back. I will admit, these fears were in me for a good majority of my first half of working as a Residence Life Coordinator. But now, I have finally overcome those fears and decided to be brave with my actions and values. For example, I was too critical of myself my first semester. I kept feeling as though I was failing my job because I could not accomplish every task on time. I then came to learn that it is okay. As long as I put my best foot forward everyday, I will always succeed.
One goal that I have accomplished is being brave with reaching out to other student affairs professionals to help develop myself more. If you have not tried “cold-communicating” with someone, I highly recommend you start doing it. Why, you ask? Because you never know who you are going to meet and who will become more than a stranger.
Be Persistent with Yourself
Jobs make you exhausted at the end of every day (especially if you are working in Housing & Residence Life). The most important thing I have started doing is breaking down the day a little bit at a time to help me be persistent and productive. For example, I plan ahead with all the meetings I can and schedule everything on my calendar accordingly. I even have set work time put into my calendar to help break down each day. Now, you should not just be persistent at work, but be persistent out of the office, too. A few things that I am in the process of getting more persistent with myself about are:
Less binge watching
I am doing this because as great as television is, it wastes time when done too much. Instead, I should get back to listening to music.
Reading
I started an audio book about the leaders’ first 100 days.
Developing my skills outside of residence life
I am exploring academic advising skills and career advising skills to help me change gears.
I have already created my own My Personal Advising Philosophy (PJ)
Doing physical activity other than working out
Though I workout, I am trying to walk more both in and out of the office.
We all can get caught up in the fear of failing and being scared that things will not work out for us both professionally or personally, but we only truly fail if we think we are going to fail. I am making sure that I think positively, because with positive thoughts comes positive outcomes. For those of you who are ever feeling fear, I am more than happy to lend my ear to you. Email me at proctorpj11@gmail.com.
This post is part of the Emerging SA Pro series following 4 awesome people: Aracelis, Emalie, Felicia, and Patrick, as they blog monthly about 1 year of their journey as either a new SA Pro or SA grad student. We are proud to help them share their stories as they break into our field.
