Thing About The Speech Communication Major example essay topic

I came to college looking for an education, wanting to gain knowledge so that I could have a successful future in life, in my job, and in my pursuit of happiness. I knew the window of opportunity had just been opened for me and that by the end of my four years (well, four and a half years) here; the window would be propped wide open. I was fully prepared to pick my purpose for going to college in the first place, which was my major. I came into Shippensburg as a Business Information Systems major.

I thought that I had my life planned out and I was going to be ready to go, but I wasn't. It turns out that BIS was not the right major for me. I knew that I wanted to work in business with my father some day. I knew I would have to speak a lot and sell myself to potential customers. So when I sat down and really thought about it, with a little help from advisors and such, I came to the conclusion that speech communication would be the best major for me. I already thought of myself as a good talker.

I just needed to be shown the right path to take, and I am very happy with the path that was drawn out for me. Today, I still am happy with the major I have chosen because it has taught me so much more than I ever thought I could know about communication. Every aspect of communicating has been taught to me. From persuasive speaking, to racial, and gender speaking, to critiquing speech, and even how to resolve a conflict or two (I thought you especially would like that! ). I have learned to speak more confidently and intelligently in all of life's areas.

The concepts and terms I have learned will remain useful to me for the rest of my life. When assigned the book "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", I looked at this as just one more assignment I had to do and one more book I had to read to get through Shippensburg. I figured the book would not be very interesting and that I would have to struggle through reading it. My opinion of the book slowly changed as each chapter passed. It soon became apparent to me that this was not some ordinary book that as soon as I was done with it, and tested on it, I would just forget about it.

But that was not the case. In fact, I found quotes and lessons that I can use in living my own life. I felt as I kept reading the book, I forgot completely that this was an assignment. Something I had to do. I soon started to think that this was a book I should have read long before my last semester of college. With all of the things I learned in the book, I will now discuss my life, and analyze myself as a communicator while making reference to the book.

Habit 1: Be Proactive Proactive people take initiative for themselves and are responsible for what they do while reactive people react to what is going on around them. When I look at my life beyond the classroom, I am sure that I am a proactive person most of the time. When it comes to doing work for the classroom, I tend to think I am more of a reactive person. In the speech communication major, I find all of my classes, past and present, have been and are truly interesting. I come to class wanting to participate more and share my life as it pertains to the subject at hand. I also love to hear other peoples two cents on a subject we may be discussing.

I take responsibility for my work by copying every assignment down, even if the professor gives us the due dates in the syllabus. I take the initiative to work hard in order to get the best education I can. I take responsibility for all work and for my performance in each class. I think about how I am not very proactive, however, when it comes to doing the assignments that I copy down in my book. One of the main things that got me into trouble in high school and in college is time management. I know I have things to do, and I know when I have to do them by, but I always seem to wait until the last minute to do things.

When assignments are due, I tend to react when I see other people doing them. My problem with procrastination causes me to be a reactive person. Another thing about the Speech Communication major I that we have to work in groups a lot more. This causes me to feel as if I have to be reactive. I have to react to the people I am surrounded with. When looking at proactive and reactive people, you must also look at their circle of influence.

The circle of influence is the inner circle that is limited while your circle of concern is the outer circle and is unlimited. This means that many things you are concerned about you cannot influence, but there still are things that you can influence. Reactive people focus on the circle of concern while proactive people focus on their circle of influence. In this sense I am a proactive person. I can influence my grades prior to handing in the work but also realize that after a grade is given there is often no influence over changing it. In every aspect of my life I am concerned over the things I can influence but do not spend time worrying about the things I know I cannot change.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind In short this means begin with your end result in mind. This habit tells you to ask yourself, "When I die, will I be happy with what I have done? What will I be remembered for? What do people think of when they remember me?" The answers that you want to be true are the exact principles that one should live by.

Covey tells us we need to make long-term goals for ourselves based on our personal principles. I feel that I need to apply this in my life more. I do have short term goals and work hard to reach them. The only long term goal I have is my career.

When asked about my long term goals, I usually answer with a secure job, a family and a good life. Although I may know what I am going to with my career, I still consider myself to be a very spontaneous person. I feel not having a set plan for life is a very good attitude for anyone to have. Why would anyone want to live their life as if it was supposed to be in a set schedule? This habit also states that some things are "created twice".

This means there is mental or first creation, and then a physical or second creation. This means you think about things before actually applying them aloud or physically. I believe that I use this concept or idea everyday. For example, when writing this paper I must first think about my ideas and organize them before typing them out.

Also, another example would be an interview. In my interviewing class I learned the questions that interviewers will ask, I then think about the answers I can give to these questions. Then, while in an interview, I feel mentally prepared for questions that I may be asked and am able to answer them better than most people. This habit also states that you have a mission statement or a long term goal you could only reach through a lifetime. As a personal mission statement for myself, I want to be successful in all that I do, be surrounded by people that are influential and positive in my life, and have a family that would support me just as much as I support them. I would like all people to think that I am a considerate person and generally have a happy life.

I would like to travel a lot and be remembered as a cheerful person and someone who brought joy and laughter to others. Habit 3: Put First Things First This habit deals specifically with time management. I stated earlier in this paper that I lack time management skills; therefore, this habit is something I feel needs work in my life style. When looking at Covey's Four Generations of Time Management I find myself in second generation. This is because I do use daily planners and try to write down everything I can.

As I stated earlier I like to be very spontaneous in life. When looking at Covey's Time Management Matrix, I find myself falling into all quadrants. I have just experienced a crisis in my life. My mother had a tumor that needed to be removed. But as time passes and she gets better, I feel myself moving out of this quadrant. I do focus on relationship building and recreation more than the mail and interruptions but it's hard to move out of the quadrant living with my friends who are interruptions sometimes.

I will need to learn to push these interruptions away and move to quadrant two. This habit encourages getting the most important things done first. I find that I do follow that concept but the things most important to me may not be viewed as the most important things by people looking at me from the outside. Habit 4: Think Win / Win This habit focuses on conflict resolution. Through my scholastic life I feel that this habit has often been the focus of my classes. In speech communication, you have to learn to work in groups and resolve conflict through collaboration and not through arguments.

I have been lucky in my group work because I have never experienced a serious problem. As a group member I realize that we have to work through problems without arguments and then every person has to give a little to have a positive group dynamic. When I take on a leadership role I take pride in my decisions and in my group. I do not believe I am the sole decision maker; I take everyone's opinions into account and like to ask for everyone else's input into the matter. I will accommodate people but not to the point where I will give up all my beliefs to make someone else happy.

I also enjoy competition but when working in groups I feel there should be no competition between members. I have a strong character and hold my beliefs strong, but I also realize other people's beliefs are just as important to them and we must make a compromise. When each individual seeks a mutual benefit it increases the group's momentum. Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood In communication there are two major topics: speaking and listening. To be an effective communicator you must be able to not only speak well, but also listen well.

This habit basically tells you to listen to others first and not just hear what they are saying, but listen to understand and comprehend what they are saying. Then speak so that others will understand you when they listen. My first communication class was Intro to Human Communication where I had to learn to be an empathetic listener. We would go over many exercises through the semester where we would be tested on our listening skills. At the end of the course my listening skills were as close to 100% as they were going to come. I began to understand people and teachers so much better.

I was able to listen to people from their frame of reference and this helped me to not only understand others better but I also learned more about myself. This promotes better communication and can also help people in problem solving. Intro to Human Communication as the first speech course is very effective because it helped me with problem solving before I ever encountered group dynamic problems. Learning how to listen to others helped me learn how to compromise thus decreasing problems or disagreements in my group work. Habit 6: Synergize This habit's focus is to learn to value peoples differences. People have mental, emotional, and psychological differences and when you recognize these differences, problems will decrease.

People often have different views and these views may not be understandable to others. When you recognize that people are just different from one another and learn to accept that, you will learn to live more successfully. People often become focused on specific goals. This makes them less open minded, and decreases the ones options. You forget to look at all aspects of your ideas and focus only on the end result. I as a communicator feel that I am very open to new ideas and new beliefs.

I am eager to learn about new ideas, beliefs, and others views. There are so many influences playing on a person's mind that ideas and views can change all the time. I like to keep this in mind when trying to understand other people. Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw This habit promotes continuous improvements upon yourself. There are four basic dimensions to look at when improving yourself. These include physical, mental, spiritual, and social / emotional.

I gain renewal in these dimensions continually but in different ways. In my physical dimension, I gain renewal by working out and going to the gym. Exercising not only makes me feel better about myself but it relieves stress also. It will also help me to live a longer and healthier life. I often find that when I have a bad day, exercising, even if it is a long walk, relieves some of my tension and helps me to have time to myself to contemplate my goals in life. In my spiritual dimension, I gain renewal by praying and meditating.

I believe in God. I do not however attend masses on a weekly basis, but I feel one does not need to do that to be spiritual. In my mental dimension, I gain renewal by focusing on one day at a time. I am not an avid reader and I do not like to plan things out too much so my mental dimension is not one of strength. I do visualize things a lot.

My mind and thought processes are constant, though I often find myself unable to sleep because my mind keeps racing. I contemplate many things and organize my life just by thinking about what needs to get done and then follow through with my ideas. In my social / emotional dimension, I gain renewal by spending time with my family, friends, and my girlfriend as much as possible and participating in stimulating conversation. I love to meet new people and I feel I can talk to anyone for hours. I love to learn from hearing about what other have to say.

I am also very family oriented and go home as much as I can. I feel that I am also a good friend to have and would do anything for anyone. Interacting with people is what keeps me going through life. Without communication, where would we be.

In conclusion, I would like to say that after reading this book, I have learned a lot about myself, and will use this book to help me grow as a person and a communicator. As time goes by I feel I keep progressing as a communicator and through this final semester of college I will become more than efficient in communicating but successful..