My Personal Development

This section contains information about my personal development as a young professional within the "International Sports, Management & Business" programme and as a manager in general, with regards to some of Stephen Covey's "habits of highly effective people".

Habit 1: Be Proactive
This habit is mainly a reminder for managers, that they are in charge of their own fortune and should focus on the things in life that they can influence, rather than complaining about the things in life they cannot influence.

Looking back on the first year of my development as a manager, I really think I became more aware of the multiple ways in which I can bring change to my professional life. This gives me a feeling of confidence and strength, because I know that regardless of the challenges that will come, I have obtained tools to deal with them. Moreover, I realised that tackling tasks issues or problems early, makes their resolve actually really easy and gives me as a manager the opportunity to focus on my behaviour and the outcomes of it even more. I suppose that this is crucial in being a successful manager.

In the beginning of my development as a young professional in the world of sports, I often postponed work until the last minute, which made it hard for me to meet deadlines (even though I always managed to do so). However, now I really strive to be more proactive and to get work done early. This also makes the working process more enjoyable for me.

Habit 3: Put First things First

This habit is about prioritising the things, that are of importance to a manager to avoid getting mixed up in a lot of things, which are not that important and therefore loosing focus.

During the first year of my personal development as a sports manager, I often put my social life before my professional obligations, which contributed to running short on time as deadlines were approaching. I was procrastinating too much and did not want to deal with the things, which are really important in my professional development, until the very last moment. This lead to unsatisfactory results in the second semester and put me under pressure to obtain all my credits during the first year (although I somehow managed to do so). This gave me the personal feeling, that with increasing and more challenging tasks, my attitude towards the work also has to change. In this new academic year I am starting to act, whenever I feel that I am procrastinating or putting emphasis on things, which actually cannot be that important for my professional development.

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

This habit is supposed to teach the manager, to put his competitive and egoistic mind-set aside and accept that there is a cake off which all can eat and therefore be more successful.

Generally, I believe that it was never my big problem to put my ego aside and accept the opinion of others. Especially when I see that a person can really provide something to the group that no one else can provide. However, it is hard for me to have such a mind-set when someone does not really give me the feeling that he or she is even willing to contribute or that person is to shy to do so. That is when I mostly start to become egocentric and pull responsibilities into my direction, which actually do not have to be mine. Reflecting on this, I suppose I really have to learn to filter the strengths and weaknesses of the people around me even better and try to get them involved according to that.