VIA Character Strengths

As a part of ENGR 1197, I took the VIA Character Assessment. This was a very reflective process and I learned about how different people can use their strengths to their advantages and how to maximize group performance by working with people who have complementary strengths. My top 5 strengths are love, curiosity, appreciation of beauty & excellence, zest, and love of learning.

Love

Valuing close relations with others, in particular those in which sharing & caring are reciprocated; being close to people.

This being my number 1 character trait was spot-on. One of the most important quotes in my life is “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” said my Maya Angelou. I strive to make a personal connection in every encounter  so that people do remember how I made them feel. I very highly value love and relationships with others and feel that this contributes directly to my positive and optimistic outlook on life.

Curiosity

Taking an interest in ongoing experience for its own sake; finding subjects and topics fascinating; exploring and discovering.

I relate very closely with this character trait. I am driven relentlessly by my curiosity and often find myself delving whole-heartedly into some topic I know little about. Additionally, I am curious about what drives others. What motivates, pushes, and inspires people? This plays in with my number 1 character trait, love. In order to develop personal connections with others, I have to be genuinely curious about their passions, beliefs, and life goals.

Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence 

Noticing and appreciating beauty, excellence, and/or skilled performance in various domains of life, from nature to art to mathematics to science to everyday experience.

Appreciating beauty and excellence in everything around me is what keeps me going throughout the day. I would describe it as seeing how closely intertwined our surrounding environment is and how everything affects everything so heavily. I love sitting back and just admiring how complex our world it. The odds of us being here are so small, yet, here we are, thriving. I find unfathomable amounts of beauty each day in things like nature, art, music, math, technology, and interactions with others.

Zest

Approaching life with excitement and energy; not doing things halfway or halfheartedly; living life as an adventure; feeling alive and activated.

I think of zest as energy. I live by the belief that if our time is limited, why waste a single second of it? Why waste other’s time with anything less that your absolute best? I am dedicated to working wholeheartedly, passionately, and with all my energy because I despise the thought of looking back on your life and wishing you had done more. I think all the time about how I will look back on my life and how others will remember me. And that thought inspires me to spend my time doing things I truly care about, helping others, having fun, and making a change in the world.

Love of Learning

Mastering new skills, topics, and bodies of knowledge, whether on one’s own or formally; related to the strength of curiosity but goes beyond it to describe the tendency to add systematically to what one knows.

The popular Tom Cruise quote “I feel the need – the need for speed!” describes quite perfectly my love of learning. I am constantly finding new topics or ideas that would help me develop my technical and professional skills. I feel the need for them, so I learn them. I love the feeling you get after you’ve finally mastered a skill and you have such a deep understanding that you’re able to apply it to your everyday life.