Unit Five

In my job, I am constantly managing large teams of people. These people are chosen because of their knowledge and expertise in certain areas. We also have many subcontractors that we bring onto our teams to strengthen our chances for a win. They are brought on for the specialties that their companies provide and for customer knowledge or connection that they hold. These teams are brought together to write proposals. It is my duty to manage the team, their writing and efforts, the schedule, the reviews, the deadlines, and the production and delivery of the proposal. Needless to say, this can often be a challenging job and I have met and worked with some of the most interesting people. For the purposes of this post, I have chosen one particular proposal and team to discuss.


The proposal was a re-compete of a contract that we already held and therefore a must win. Due to the importance of the proposal, many top-level people were put on it and we had over 50 subcontractors. One of the most important people on the team, from my company, was a woman who had managed the original contract for years. Being told that she had all the knowledge, I tasked her with several key writing assignments. At the daily meetings, I checked on the progress of all my writers. This woman always had some crazy excuse as to why she had not written anything. I went to my boss to help me handle the situation. Nothing came of it. I decided to send out daily notes to the head people in my division to let them know what was going on with the "important effort" in hopes that her boss' boss would make her write the sections. As important as this effort was, no one ever made her write or took the time to get the information out of her head.

The rest of the team worked very well together. Deadlines were met and the writing was great, but the reviews did not go well because several important sections were blank. I eventually had to tell upper management that they needed to make this woman do her job or remove her from the effort. Finally, the VP of the department holding the contract had to step in and write the missing sections, and the other woman was removed from the team. Her inaction led to a later than planned production but thanks to the efforts of the rest of the team we were able to get everything done in time to submit to the customer. Unfortunately, we did not have all the key information that we needed and we lost the re-compete.

It was imperative for us to win the contract and due to the inaction of one writer, and the inaction of her boss, we lost regardless of the entire team's efforts. It was a very sad situation as every other member of the team spent countless hours writing and reviewing. These people truly put their heart and soul into this effort. Many people lost their jobs because we did not retain the contract. We stood a very strong chance of winning and possibly could have if we would have had the full support we needed. The woman who did not contribute to the proposal eventually lost her job after her boss lost his.

Short Response Four

Growing up I experienced a lot of anxiety, confusion, anger, and a mixture of low and high emotions. I would be extremely happy one moment and the wind could blow and I would go into an controllable rage the next. Other times I would be so depressed that I would not get off the couch. I comtenplated suicide often and actually attempted it twice. Luckily death at such a young age was not meant to be for me.

Some doctors would say that I inherited these mental and emotional issues from my parents. Depression and anxiety run on both sides of my family, and my mom's oldest sister was Bipolar. I knew in my heart of hearts that I did not want to live like this and I truly believed that I did not have to. I asked my mom for help one day and I began to see therapists and take several different medications. One doctor told my mother that I was just an overacting child. Several other doctors said, however,  that I defintiely exhibited signs of being Bipolar, though I was never formally diagnosed. I remember every emotion and outburst, every harmful thing I did to myself. It was agony for me and everyone around me.
My life was an emotional roller coaster. Up and down, up and down. I did my best to wear a mask around my friends and family so they couldn't see the real me. I tried to swallow down all the pain and confusion. I remember the Soul Asylum song Runaway Train. Although my experiences were not like the people shown in the video, the words were metaphors for my experience as I truly felt like I was on a runaway train.

Around the time when I was 21, one of my aunts on my mom's side, who had been on medication and in therapy for depression for years, suddenly got off her medication and stopped seeing her therapist. She had finally found a way to understand herself, her emotions, and to control her life. After reading every book by every guru and trying every self help course available, one day she went to a course called Avatar run by a company called Stars Edge. This group of people, headed up by a man named Harry Palmer, had figured out through years of study how to understand human behavior and how to teach people to take control of their lives back. She let go of her depression and the things in her life that she let bring her down. Yes, this is actually possible. I did it myself.
Harry Palmer, and other like minded researchers, studied the concept of psychology in the Eastern and Western senses, the effects that people's beliefs had on them, and the importance of compassion towards others. They did this to find the tools necessary to help this world become compassionate again and not so individualistic. They wanted to help people control their emotions and the way they experienced their lives. They created the tools so that people could use them if they choose to. When you are in the state of mind of depression, anxiety, or any other mental condition you believe that you have no control. It is a medical condition and there is nothing that you can do about it. This is because your will power is weak and you give into the emotions allowing them to define and control you. I experienced this and did not like it and chose to change it. I went to several of their courses and I turned my life around. The Aerosmith song Amazing then became my theme song. While the video has nothing to do with my life, the words ring SO true to me!

When I finally graduate from college I plan to have a degree in Developmental Psychology.  I do not want to be a typical Psychologist though. I am doing this to have a better understanding of the human mind and child development, and because you have to have a degree in order to put yourself in a position where you can help people. I want to either be working for myself in a non-profit organization or for John's Hopkins in some fashion.  Maybe in the Children's Center. I want to eventually have a center of my own though, that teaches the tools that I learned in Avatar to children so that they have them to use if they choose to.
Imagine having the tools to create your life the way you want at an early age. Avatar teaches adults how to be compassionate, to understand and accept the things that have happened to them, and to create what you want from that point forward. I want everyone to have the opportunity and option to be able to grow up and create their life as they go, and not to have to turn around in later years and do it. My goal is to give children the tools to handle every situation in life, good or bad. If they are faced with an amazing opportunity or a sad time, they will have the power over their own emotions to choose how to react and handle it. If I had understood beliefs and emotions when I was younger, my life would have been very different.