Tuesday, November 10, 2015

11. My Transformation

This class, and especially the completion of this reflection, has had a huge impact on both my personal and professional lives.

Professionally, I have learned an incredible amount of how to give an effective and successful speech. Public speaking was, and is one of my greatest weaknesses and as an introvert, I have always struggled with connecting to my audience and speaking loudly and with confidence. Although I have always heard of various informal ways to improve my speaking skills, I have never taken a full blown, formal course just on how to give impactful presentations. I think this class has been one of the most useful classes I’ve ever taken because actually teaches you real life skills unlike some classes such as calculus in which you learn something just to get good grades in that class and then immediately forget about it afterwards because it’s not relevant to your life. Communication is a lifelong skill used in every aspect of my life, from meeting new people and making new friends to interviewing at companies and knowing how to network with employers.



I have learned that communication is about knowing your audience and having the emotional intelligence to relate to them through self-awareness, self regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. These are crucial soft skills key to succeeding which no other class will teach you. I really valued this particular class because while all my other classes are giving me the technical tools to succeed (i.e. how to be an accountant, how to code, etc.) none of them give me the highly applicable skill of connecting to others through public speaking. Even though I might forget some other classes I’m taking this semester, I know I will always remember the invaluable tips I learned in this class. I will notice my 

My personal life, a much bigger influence than I could’ve imagined. First of all, I realized I actually have a lot of insights and musings that remain trapped in my head all the time, they just come and go and I forget about many of them. Being forced to physically write out my thoughts on a variety of topics has showed me that I enjoy writing a lot and made me decide to keep a diary from now on. I will use this diary as a method of releasing my pent up thoughts that I don’t really want to say to others and will be great to read later and analyze my personal development. The 360Reach piece was invaluable for personal growth because it showed me the areas I must endeavor to continue improving on in the future and taught me what people actually think of me. This kind of anonymous feedback is rare to find so I’m glad I got the opportunity to complete the 360survey piece.


Looking back at my entire BSE journey, I can truly see how far I’ve come, from a shy and scared freshman unsure of how to make her mark on the world to a confident sophomore ready to change the world for the better and leave a lasting impact. Last year I learned how to develop innovative ideas and what makes entrepreneurs successful. This information provided a solid foundation for my future experiences because it gave me the knowledge I could use to differentiate myself as an innovative thinker. This year, I acquired the knowledge on how to portray those skills to the outer world through effective communication.


No comments:

Post a Comment