Future Steven
One: it has been forever since I have published anything.
Two: I do miss writing on here.
Three: FPU takes over my life.
Four: I am writing today for several reasons, so enjoy the ride.
I’m nearing graduation. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot. Trying to set goals, figure out where I’m going to be after I graduate. That type of stuff. To be completely honest, I have no clue what I am going to do or where I will be when I graduate. I’m not too worried about it either. I have an odd peace about it. So I am not worrying too, too much.
I do feel though, as if I was born to lead. To be a person of power influence. Thinking back, I’m able to see that. In high school, by the time I graduated, I was very, very, very much involved in Leadership. So much so, that my principal deemed me (unofficially) as Assistant Activities Director. I became really close with Debbie Acosta, my AD. I’m extremely thankful for her and glad I was able to be one of her students.
I used my leadership skills that I had learned in high school, and took them to college with me. I came into FPU knowing not a single person. It was one of the hardest and tougher times I had been through. I would go to class and to the cafeteria to eat, and spent the rest of my time in the room. I became aware of a leadership opportunity as a Freshman Senator, applied and got elected! I honestly don’t know how it happened, but it happened for a reason.
By the end of my sophomore year, I had been elected student body president for the next year. So, my junior year, I was president, and now my senior year (because of several factors which won’t be discussed now) I have kind of let go from being a ‘leader with a title’ and am enjoying my senior year, just being a student. Being in leadership, I have been able to meet a ton of people, and hopefully been able to be a positive influence on their lives.
Now that I’m graduating and leaving Pacific, I think I have my next target area identified. I want to be an active member of the Fresno community – I want to be a Fresno area name. I feel I was able to contribute to my high school in little Riverdale. I feel I was able to contribute to the Fresno Pacific Community. Now I want to move on to the greater Fresno area.
This is a little bit of what’s been on my heart. At The Well (the church I am a part of) we have been in the book of Nehemiah. In going through Nehemiah, we’ve been talking about a holy discontent. What is it that is sitting heavy on our hearts that we would love to see changed or done? I know God is tugging on my heart and preparing me for something – I just still don’t know what it is. But I do have a feeling that it is going to involve the Fresno area. I say this just because of opportunities that have been presented to me, and contacts which I’ve been making, and relationships that are happening. So, I’m just waiting for that something to happen.
I’ve been also working on the idea of the ‘personal touch’ — I first learned of this in my first marketing class. The professor said that some of the best marketers are able to touch people. Of course, me and my high level of maturity giggled every time he said this. But, this idea of a personal touch really is an effective one. I made this realization during this past summer.
First, let me explain my concept of personal touch. Pretty much, I see it as making an individualized effort to reach out to somebody and to put your mark on something, so that it makes the relationship formed so much more genuine and meaningful. For example – a very literal meaning: at the end of last semester I was putting a resume together. To throw on my own little personal touch, I put a subtle monogram on the background. It really made my resume pop.
Another instance of personal touch – I practice at work. I work in the Advancement office at FPU (church, donor, and alumni relations), and we always want to ensure that we individualize as much as we can when we are dealing with constituents. Also, over the summer while living in Nashville, Dave was applying for jobs. A lot of these job applications were online. I was always encouraging him to follow up his submission with a phone call to talk to an actual person and introduce himself.
I don’t know – it is just little things like that. I am a people person. My number one strength (according to Strengths Finder) is empathy. So even in the simplest of things – when meeting new people, I always try to remember names. I am great with faces and almost as good with names – that is something I’m proud of. Pretty much, you just want to make people feel good. It’s being able to get emotion happening in a relationship, that people become really engaged and involved.
But, yeah. I’ve began to blabber, I feel like. These are my thoughts. Random? Maybe.
…yeah. I’m done for now.
