I suddenly feel like I want to change my blogger blog template. But so far I can't really find one that makes me go 'wow'! I'm a bit bored of the current one although it's all pretty and cute and all. I like it, really, but somehow I think it's a bit too far on the cute end for me. :)
I like my business modules this year. They are quite psychological, and they sort of bring out the best in me. We're doing a video project on improving people's life this year, worth 35%. Somehow during group discussions I managed to lead quite a bit, induce topics for discussions, and build on my knowledge of emailing and contacting relevant organizations. Also, I get to work with different people too, those that I totally don't know. (Same for my lab group - I just got to know my lab partners today. Thankfully all of them are nice.)
The first half of a biz module I'm taking is on leadership training, and through the case studies I'm doing I get to reflect on traits of myself, both as a person and as a leader, understand why I do certain things and how I can go far. Usually I thought biz modules (at least the conceptual parts) are just lots of theory and crap, but this is the first time that I get so much from reflective learning. :) For example - leadership is not just leading people to goals, it's imparting influence so that people would want to get to that goal. That is true. Farid used to impart the concept that jamming is fun, and it's nice to learn new things. Shu Shan (my ex-Choir MM) gave us the impression that singing is the happiest thing, and it doesn't matter what quality comes out, the most important thing is to enjoy the process. And Sem (this year's Band MM) made us all realize that it is a previledge to be one of the best cultural groups in hall, and that we're going to go far no matter what.
We also learned traits of successful managers: self confidence, have high energy levels, be able to tolerate stress, good internal locus of control, emotionally mature, has integrity, cares for social good, has a moderately high achievement orientation and low need for affliation. Hah! I just realized that as a worker/leader/person etc, my need for affliation is really quite high. Just yesterday one of the basketball players approached me (in a nice way) and told me that my articles lacked pictures, interviews, and used the wrong jargon. Although I knew all these things all along, it still made me feel bad because I was not able to produce something good (and might have offended people along the way). This thing unconsciously stayed with me the whole day until the said basketball player replied my email in a very encouraging way, and it makes me want to write better for my remaining articles. I do care a lot about the way people look at me. Maybe a little too much.
On top of that I also learned how important conceptual skills are to a leader (or to anyone). Making good judgemen, having foresight, intuition, creativity, and be able to find meaing and order in things, and indentifying complex patterns in relationships. As a worker, it is good to have transferable skills (things you bring with you no matter which company you work with), as compared to non-transferrable ones. Conceptual skills, and interpersonal skills are what individuals should seek to develop, to increase their individual values as employees. There's a hundred and one other stuff that I did learn, and am excited about, but I guess I won't go too deep into those. Oh did I mention that the lecturer is tall and handsome, with blue eyes? That's another plus point isn't it? :)
Lab today ended late, kind of a bad start for the term. This is the first time the TA's actually abandoned us, and left us to fend on our own (which is actually what we should have learned to do long ago). So we spent eons figuring out what to do and why, until the TA finally dropped a tip or two. But I was quite satisfied with the experience, because even in a Kasun-less lab I finally managed to figure out concepts on my own, and help my group mates in discussion! Else I'll be relying on Kasun the whole time to explain things to me and understand how the machine works. (The only things he can't explain are bio-related). So I'm more independent now! :)
FYP readings are going along better now. It turned out that I have started with the heavy bulk of the readings, and the remaining ones are quite repetitive and lighter to absorb. Hopefully I can start doing the FYP proper next week! I would miss my Friday off-days a lot though. :(
