Overview of Journal, Essay Example

As a result of having been tossed into a leadership role at the tender age of 22 and of subsequent leadership roles, I have grown thicker skin.  Also, my empathy has increased and my confidence in my skills and abilities has evolved greatly.  My value and love of education have also increased.  Over the years I have seen first hand how a good education can open doors to more challenging and fulfilling positions in my beloved field of nursing.  I have learned the various styles of management and have realized that good leadership styles need to be carried out by people with appropriate personality traits.  As a result, I have learned to become more open, more approachable, more caring, more considerate and more forgiving.  These traits have also carried over to my private life.  I have always been a hard worker; and as a result have taken on tasks such as working full time and being a family person while studying at the same time—and have made it work.  I realized a very important concept; namely, that when you think you cannot do more, you still can.  My faith and spirituality are constantly increasing.

My goals are to complete my BSN this year, take a small break, and then begin my family nurse practitioner program for which I have applied.  Utilizing my time management skills, which of necessity I have honed to near perfection, excellent motivation and interest, and hard work, I expect to finish the program by January 2015.  To maximize chances of this happening, I plan on developing and following a stricter financial budget and to work only part-time during my second year in order to facilitate my completing my clinical portion of the program by the target date.  Once I complete my nurse practitioner program, I plan on working either in a clinical setting or as a family hospice nurse practitioner, something I plan on doing for ten years from now and beyond.  Keeping up with advances in nursing is a given for me.