Psy 220 Week 5 Checkpoint

PSY 220 Week 5 CheckPoint

Fostering Commitment

Cheryl Wilson

April 27, 2012

Axia College

PSY 220

In the textbook, Pursuing Human Strengths: A Positive psychology guide, nine steps are outlined for fostering commitment. These steps have helped me to better understand how I can accomplish my goals through fostering commitment to them. A personal goal that I have aside from getting my degree is to develop my photography hobby into a side business.

This goal to be a photographer is broad and large in scope. One of the first steps for fostering commitment is to choose what commitments I will make. This has been a useful exercise for identifying where exactly my interests lie and the commitments I should make to support those areas that I am interested in. Due to my passion for nature, I would like to commit to being a nature photographer. I also need to make commitments to ensure that the focused goal is accomplished. Between work, school, and family, I have difficulty finding time to take photography excursions. So, one of my commitments is to make the time, at least once a week, to hike for the day, taking photos of the nature around me. This is a small, but important commitment that I want to keep and should keep for a continued production of nature images.

Another step for fostering commitment is to go public. It is really easy for me to take photos, but for some reason I have difficulty sharing them, which is a fundamental basis for selling pictures. I had to overcome fears of putting something that I have created into the public sphere for people to view and judge. If people like my pictures, they will buy them. If they don’t, I will have a degree and career to support my family in other ways. By going public on a website in the near future, my commitment to my goal will be solidified.

References:

Bolt M. (2004). Pursuing Human Strengths: A Positive Psychology Guide. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.