Ms. Prestige

The best part about taking the Fascination Test was that I did not have to sit face to face with someone to review the results. A few weeks ago I took the PRINT Assessment through the NYU Wasserman Center for Career Development and the only way to view my results was to make an appointment with a Wasserman counselor. I had taken the quiz online out of curiosity, expecting the results to pop up at the end. But no, before they would fork over the results I had to sit in front of a counselor and tell her which two categories I thought I landed in. Naturally, I chose the "nice" categories, "to be needed and appreciated" and "to be special and find meaning in life."

I was dead wrong. The PRINT Assessment however, was dead right about me. And I now know it is right even more because my Fascination Test results were very similar to my PRINT results.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce myself, Ms. Prestige (aka "the need to succeed and achieve" if you ask PRINT.)

Due to the fact I was recently sitting at Wasserman nodding as the counselor asked if I was competitive, overly enthusiastic, used to winning and being recognized as #1, the Fascination results of being a "Connoisseur," known for its triggers of prestige and passion are not a shock to me. I've had a few weeks to realize those things were true, and to not be ashamed of them. That said, hearing that happiness would only come to me through being #1 at everything and always having competition was not the easiest thing to have a stranger tell me. To me, it sounded like she was describing a monster without friends. But, after realizing how much happiness I have had in competing to be #1 in the past, and after reading Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In, I now am grateful to have taken such an assessment early on in my career and life.

None of the results are a surprise, they are truly me, but Lean In helped me to realize I was partially ashamed of those qualities. Society has lead us to believe that females should not be overly competitive, ambitious or uncompromising, all of which fall under the "Prestige" category. Thus why I did not select anything regarding success or achievement when the NYU counselor asked which category I thought I fell into.

photo from Forbes, to view more quotes visit http://www.forbes.com/pictures/fdmj45file/leadership-insights-from-sheryl-sandberg-6/

It's hard to be a female and to be #1. In fifth grade all the boys who sat at my table made fun of me for being the only student in the class to have earned "Distinguished Honors" at the end of the year. I'm not entirely sure I should have earned the award because I did not even know what it was for at the time. Turns out, it's the award for having straight A's the entire year.  Perhaps if my girl friends had made comments I would have attributed it to jealousy, but when the boys were making fun of me, I just felt ashamed. Luckily I was not ashamed when I received partial scholarships to both undergraduate and graduate school (and luckily I knew what they were).

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Academic Team 2009

This trend continued with my swimming career. Boys called me "Tree Trunks" in high school because my legs were so muscular.  This time I didn't care (as much) because Tree Trunks herself was always winning her races, being praised by her coaches and was the only member of her high school swim team to compete on a Division I college team. In college, I was the only freshman to break a school record and compete as a member of an "A" relay composed of all upperclassmen.
 

Go Stags! Fairfield University Swim Team "A" Medley Relay

There are times I finished last in a race, and times I did not get straight A's. But overall, my 26 years of life have been filled with competition, winning, respect for winning and hard work to achieve it all. I have chosen not to be ashamed, because according to the Fascination and PRINT tests, I am biologically wired to be this way, so I might as well use it to my advantage.

GIRL POWER