Strengths
I have taken a lot of personality quizzes, and I usually am not satisfied. CliftonStrengths, however shocked me with its accuracy. I told one of my roommates my results and she said "Yep, that's you!" Input and Learner are very similar in that they both involve seeking new knowledge. This is evident even in my little habits. For example, whenever someone mentions something and they aren't sure about some detail of it, I have to google it! I find myself represented very well by the last three as well. Developers like to find the good in people and bring that out as much as possible. Ideation also plays into my quest for new knowledge, because hearing new ideas and perspectives is crucial to learning. Belief has to do with the fact that I have strong values that I lead my life by. This Gateway to Honors activity was helpful in confirming what I knew about myself and putting those thoughts into more concrete explanations.
1. Input
2. Learner
3. Developer
4. Ideation
5. Belief
Values
The Gateway course's values activity was interesting, as it involved first picking out 10 values from a pack of cards with values and descriptions, narrowing that down to 5, then 3, then 2, then 1. This was surprisingly difficult to do, even though they were just cards, and removing them doesn't actually change your values. I think the hardest choice for me was Love vs Passion. I tried to justify to myself that the two are very intertwined so it doesn't matter, but it still felt like a betrayal to cut Love out. This made it clear just how important my values are to me. I was also surprised that Altruism kept staying after each cut. I have often heard Altruism used in a somewhat negative light to call someone naive. The definition of it that I identified with however, was that it is a concern for and willingness to help others. It also is one of the values of the "Belief" strength according to CliftonStrengths, so it makes a lot of sense to me now that it is number one.