After reviewing the article, "Understanding Your Communication Style," I have determined that I use a combination of communication styles. Over the years and with experience, I have changed from being an aggressive communicator to more of an assertive communicator. It has taken me 14 years and a lot of patience to develop a system for using both styles of communication. My life revolved around being an aggressive communicator and I developed a way to switch between being aggressive and assertive at home and in the workplace. .
At an early age, my parents encouraged me to approach every task in an aggressive manner. I was raised in a military family and my father instilled discipline in me at a very early age. When I started school, I learned that I had an advantage over the other children because of upbringing. The discipline my father instilled in me made me a very stronger minded person. I thought answering questions in class were competitions. If someone else answered a question, I would always find fault in the other student's answers or add my opinion. I always thought that I was right and nobody else had a valid opinion. Even when we took exams, I would brag about how well I scored on the exam. During extracurricular activities, we would play football and baseball using my rules. I was always a captain and I always had first pick. I felt like I always had to be the star of the game. If someone ever got the upper hand, I would find a reason to call him or her a derogatory name or pick a fight. Through out middle school and high school, I played football and ran track. I was very bossy and had very little patience for my teammates who lacked discipline. I couldn't stand to lose any games. If we lost, I would always blame someone on the team for making mistakes that caused us to lose games. On many occasions, my best friend said that I was too hostile and lacked patience.