We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jen Peeples-Hampton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jen, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Wow, I actually love this question. I’d say my resilience comes from learning how to have courage. I come from a large family, sitting 3rd to youngest out of 9. I wasn’t the oldest but I also wasn’t the baby either.
In order to be heard, you either did something amazing or you did something that caused you to lose certain privileges. There were times where I chose the amazing route and the not so amazing route.
When I turned 18 I realized that I had developed a black and white way of looking at things. A yes or no. An up or down. I wanted to challenge myself to change my conscious narrative.
This challenge began by choosing to leave home for college all the way in Hampton, VA to attend The Illustrious Hampton University. During my time there I realized I needed to earn more than just recognition.
I enrolled into ROTC, Reserved Officer Training Course, and was immediately met with the intention I had set prior to leaving home. ROTC prepares you to become an Officer in the United States Army.
The trainings and life lessons Hampton University’s ROTC program have imparted on me have brought significant opportunities of growth in my professional as well as personal life.
Because of this, I realized that when you are uncomfortable, and choose your hard— life’s version of lessons are a bit more controllable.
Controllable in the sense of understanding what you can and cannot control. Sort of like if I choose my hard I become a more responsible for how to be strong.
I think this is how I developed my resilience. I was never born with it, but similar to love, resilience is a verb; an action.
This isn’t to say that I have conquered and mastered this character trait, it’s more so that I have become available to be courageous in choosing opportunities to understand the limits outside of comfort within my bounds.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
For my full-time job I support the military through organizing data and simplifying their business processes through visual reporting.
This allows the force to have greater insight into being data-informed in order to make better decisions from accurate information.
This keeps our leaders driven to perform tasks that benefit the current soldiers and future ones as well.
And for my part-time, I am a Chemical Officer in the United States Army. I am currently the division level CBRN officer and create SOPs for subunits. With my team, we provide training and standard that are in regulation with updates and research.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I’d probably say, looking back— do not be afraid to learn. Realizing that life won’t always go your way, it’s important to tap into the possibility of your growth being impacted.
Staying open to opportunities requires Awareness, Availability, and Ambition. The three qualities I’ve found to be extremely helpful as well as impactful in my journey. I call these the ‘Thr33 Ay3s’.
If…
We are the Who
Awareness gives us or What.
Availability gives us our When/Where
Ambition gives us our How
This is my blueprint to development that brings success.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
The first book I read that lead me on my journey of self discovery and self-accountability is ‘The Power of the Subconscious Mind’ by Joseph Murphy.
This book broke down the lessons that we are in full control of our lives through our thoughts. That we are much more powerful than we think.
It encouraged me to be brave. It’s like the book was telling me to step up and that it was ok to level up.
Growing up is hard, so imagine adulting!
This book is very powerful for the ones who are ready to take control of their growth without excuses.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @uhshot_ofjen
- Facebook: Jen Peeples-Hampton
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbecpham
- Youtube: @uhshot_ofjen
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
