Self Assessment Exercise - Personal Statement Example

I have been brought up in a family system which largely focused on certain values which later constructed my personality. My when I look at me as a person, I find myself as an individual with integrity. I value and respect the freedom and values of my fellow beings. My parents ensured that right from my childhood I was empowered in terms of my social and cultural capital. They made me interact with people who had proven themselves in their respective fields. The values they relate to their profession and the philosophies they stand for imbibed in me a strong urge to strongly believe in whatever I do.

This accounted to the integrity that I developed as an individual and as a professional. One common factor that I saw in all the mentors whom I was exposed to right from the childhood was their intense respect towards their counterparts. Interestingly, I found them many them being able to respect professionals who even opposed their ideology. This is one core value I always wanted me in me since then and I continuously ensure to live up to this value. In my professional life in running a law firm I consider these core values very important.

I believe that a law firm without professional integrity would be a threat to the society and the profession as such. Being a profession with stakeholders ranging from client base to opponents, to respectfully deal with all stakeholders will help me leave a mark in the profession. Eventually, integrity and respect for stakeholders, be it clients or opponents which are my core values will become a brand identity of my law firm.I have had good professional experience as a real estate paralegal.

This has exposed me extensively to various legal frameworks and professional systems which exist within the industry. The scope of professional training and qualification as a lawyer has been realized all through my experience being a paralegal. I have understood the gaps in the industry and it is these gaps which I would like to fill in being an entrepreneur. With the technical knowledge acquired from the classes, I have improved this aspiration of starting up a law firm. Liptak (2008) relates entrepreneurship with the person’s freedom and attitude aligned with work.

With reference to this approach, I see my entrepreneurial prospects as quite bright. My previous work experience always urged me to be independent and self driven. The learning which I acquired from the work has been seen by me as foundation for my own law firm. Along with this my core values give me right attitude to take up a challenging entrepreneurial effort. With the motivation that I got from the course I have set my long term life goal as to set up a law firm which will be a nationally leading company within 10 years.

Goal setting has been referred as a motivational tool both in psychological research and in modern management approaches (Harackiewicz et al, 2000). Towards achieving my long term goal I developed short term goals which are to be approached along with doing the graduation. My first short term goal is to document the experiences and observations from my previous work experience. This will help me to relate the theoretical leanings to practical scenarios. Another short term goal is to take up extra reading on entrepreneurship especially in the area of law.

After a database of readings identified, this short term goal will be made more specific and continuous. Achieving these short term goals would motivate and orient me more towards my long term goal of being a successful entrepreneur. ReferencesLiptak, J.J. (2008) Career quizzes. Indianapolis, IN: JIST Publishing. Harackiewicz, M. et al (2000). Short-Term and Long-Term Consequences of Achievement Goals: Predicting Interest and Performance Over Time. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(2), 316-330