Birth Order Research Essay

          “Attitude is dependent on how we act. Personality is dependent on who we truly are.” According to the quote, our personality comes from inside us but attitude reflects our actions. Recently I have done some Birth Order Research, which listed some traits about the oldest, middle, youngest, and only child. I am the oldest child and to me, I found this research particularly accurate. The research states that the oldest are perfectionistic, goal oriented and highly motivated, and self-sacrificing. Overall, I believe that the research is accurate because those three traits describe me perfectly.
           According to the research, I am a perfectionist. I agree with this because I am one with both school and sports. For a school project I am never satisfied until it looks the best I can make it. If I even mess up a simple detail, I feel the need to start over so I can do it right. As for sports, I always try to do things perfectly or as best as I can. I think of the quote “We don’t practice until we get it right. We practice until we can’t get it wrong.” In volleyball, I play setter and I get furious at myself when I don’t set to the right spot especially backsets. I always practice as much as I can and refuse to stop the drill until I can get my sets consecutively to the right spot. This is only one of the things that I found specific towards me. I think that being a perfectionist leads to the next trait, being goal oriented.
            The second trait that I have found true for me was being goal oriented and highly motivated. I have specific goals I am driven to reach and nothing or anyone can stop me from reaching them. One goal I’ve had is to always get straight A’s. I have always had that set goal since junior high. That is one thing I always worked hard at to reach. I don’t care how long I stay up or how hard I have to work, as long as I get the grades I want I know it will pay off later in the future. Another specific goal I have had coming into high school was making the junior varsity basketball team. During the summer before freshman year, that was my main focus. Basketball is something I will always have a drive for and no one can take that away from me. I knew I wanted to play with an upper level but had to put in extra time to get there. I believe hard work pays off because it did. I made the junior varsity team and soon enough my next goal was to be starting as a freshman on junior varsity. I had pushed myself that far and eventually earned my spot, but I would have never got there if I didn’t have my set goal of making the junior varsity team. Even though I have listed two traits that define me, there is still one more which is being self-sacrificing.
            The last trait that is accurate in my case is being self-sacrificing. I am not the self-centered type of person, I usually like to put others before myself. If my brother or friends need help with anything, I will pause what I am doing just to help them out. I don’t mind helping out with things like homework, for example. I just stop to help them, it has become like a habit. I also love to volunteer. I don’t volunteer anywhere specific, I love to volunteer anywhere in general. Also I love to help charities and donate to worthy causes. My family and I are actually doing an upcoming cancer walk to help raise money and awareness for cancer. Not only that, I have grown out my hair to donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.
            In conclusion, I have found the Birth Order Research very accurate. I agree with the oldest child traits like perfectionistic, goal oriented and self-sacrificing. Even though I agree with the research, I think that others might disagree. To me it all depends on the person because someone could find it completely accurate and another could be the total opposite. This has not really changed my views, I think it just made me think more about myself in depth, It has made me look at myself in different ways I haven’t really thought of and think of myself from a different perspective.