Leadership Qualities Essay, Research Paper

The most meaningful and challenging experiences in my life have been through sports and the 4-H club. They have instilled the values of perseverance, confidence, and teamwork within me. I feel that my peers and others could learn valuable life lessons through participating in these organizations. They are not just clubs, but a guiding light for life.

For example in sports I have had the opportunity to play on both losing and winning teams. This has given me a different perspective of looking at things. I now realize that even if you fail or lose that is no reason to give up, you still have to get right back up. Just realize your mistakes and errors. Then come back the next time, mentally and physically, ready to meet the challenge. To often in life youth and adults alike fail at something and automatically think that they cannot do it, and give up. Instead of just pushing themselves to run another lap, lift another set, study for another hour, or learn another theorem. Imagine a world if the early American settlers had given in to the British, if the North had given in to the South after the first loss of the civil war, or if Michael Jordan had given up after being cut from the team in high school. People just need to learn to have perseverance and believe in themselves.

4-H has been a series of stepping stones for me. When I first started out at age four I was shy and afraid to do things that I had not done before, but now I have blossomed into a confident and outgoing young man. I no longer fear getting up in front of large groups and speaking because of the experiences I’ve had in public speaking events. In addition, 4-H has given me the chance to develop myself as a leader. Over the years I have held various leadership positions on the club, county, and district levels. Also, 4-H has given me the chance to go into the community and help people by leading youth in workshops, assisting the handicap and elderly, and also learn from what others have to teach.

In both of these organizations I learned the need for teamwork. For example last year my football team went 0-11 and the main reason because of that was we were not a team. Everyone had there own agendas and goals that they wanted to accomplish. In addition, if we were down everyone would try to put the blame on someone else instead of trying to lift one another up. It took us a while, but we finnaly learned that we must ban together as one. This year we are playing as a team and winning games.To often in life people tend to act like this, pulling someone down to make themselves look good for ther own personal gratifacation. People could learn from this mistake that my team made last year and start helping one another.

So fellow students I say to you, when you are in a jam and breaking into a cold sweat and your first desire is to give up or quit, rethink the problem. Then be up and about the task at hand. When you try and reach out to give others a helping hand you not only help them, but you will be giving yourself a boost too.