For my core competencies assignment, I have decided to use point form lists to reflect upon my competencies. I have chosen to reflect upon my communication, my creative thinking and my personal awareness and responsibility, three things which I believe to be very important. I hope to continue to improve upon myself in these areas, by turning my weaknesses into strengths and by improving upon my current strengths as well.

Communicating: 

• When trying to get information across, I enjoy being able to use images as well as words. 
• I believe that the PowerPoint format, where you can use images to support verbal points, is very effective. I enjoy communicating ideas in this way.  
• In school, my strength for communication would have to be verbal, I am able to get a strong point across using descriptive words, etc. 
• I would like to improve upon my communication through writing. I am still able to communicate fairly well in this way, but I would like to become more comfortable with getting across thorough ideas through writing. 
• I am able to articulate my ideas and feelings well most of the time, to teachers, friends, family, etc. 
• I have a wide vocabulary, allowing me to communicate clearly. When presenting something at school, this allows me to describe things more accurately. 
• I feel comfortable communicating my feelings to close friends and family, allowing me to relieve stress a lot of the time. 
• I am able to communicate well non-verbally, but I think I am also able to mask my emotions pretty well too if I choose to do so. 
• I am able to assess the body language of others well and can usually tell how someone is feeling through non-verbal cues. 
• I am able to take in information well when listening to others speak and I have a good attention span, listening to others speak.  

Creative Thinking: 

• When thinking creatively, I usually think about something that I have seen or heard of in the past and try to add a creative spin to it.  
• I am able to gain new ideas as I observe things around me and in my environment in my everyday life.  
• In school, I am able to think creatively when faced with a problem, in math class for example, I can think creatively to take different approaches to a word problem. 
• In soccer, my sport, I am able to come up with creative ideas through experimentation and trial and error. 
• I often come up with new ideas when my mind is at rest, either when I am lying in bed, about to fall asleep or when I am in the shower. 
• I am often inclined to try new things when I see them online or on TV, I am willing to be creative and try new things. 
• I am most of the time comfortable being outside of my comfort zone, and am comfortable taking risks, as well as trying creative things.  
• Brainstorming and laying my ideas out in writing helps me to refine ideas and thoughts. 
• I often listen to music when I am trying to come up with new ideas, it helps me to concentrate and helps me with creative thinking. 
• I am only able to think creatively and come up with good ideas when I am in a calm environment, when forced to come up with ideas on the spot, I am not as able to think creatively. 

Personal Awareness and Responsibility: 

• I am able to tell when I am discouraged, even if I don’t necessarily feel super discouraged, by analyzing my performance either in school or in sport. 
• When I am feeling discouraged, I use positive self-talk to encourage myself and I also use meditation to become calmer and more in control. 
• In the past, I have watched motivational videos to become more encouraged, about sports. 
• When I do not understand something in school, and I become discouraged, I study that thing until I fully understand it so I can become more encouraged and confident. 
• When I am feeling down or discouraged, I am usually able to realize why that is and am able to work on that. Also, when I am feeling good, I am usually able to realize why and am able to continue that trend. 
• I know that I am responsible for believing in myself and am responsible for working towards my own goals. 
• I know that I need to believe in myself, and that the opinions of others towards my ambitions are unimportant compared to my own belief. 
• One of my current learning goals is to finish with a 90% or above mark in each of my classes this semester. This is one of goals because I find academics very important. 
• My main goal at the moment for my sport, soccer, is to earn a university scholarship either in Canada or the USA. I am very serious about soccer and this would be a huge achievement for me. 
• I know I will have to work very hard and manage my time very well to achieve my goals, including the ones listed above. I will also have to be mentally strong and have to believe in myself.