Time Management - Haiku?

Studying, working, going crazy
Shining ideas managing your time
Seeing you smile now in peace

The Blog Assignment

The assignment of creating a personal blog was quite interesting and helpful in many ways.

First of all, it gave me a chance to do something I would never think about. If this were not a homework assignment, I would have been the last person to write journals and put my pictures on the web. However, three month later, I now have my own blog and feel comfortable managing it. What a change!

Another advantage of having a blog was to better understand materials we learned in class by writing my opinions about certain topics. Since I had to know about the topics and related information well enough to write in my own words, I went through Powerpoint slides again and had an opportunity to think about what I did not realize in class. Most blog assignments were given right after in-class activities, which were carefully chosen and related to them. As a result, there was a synergy effect in terms of the effectiveness of understanding what we had done and learned.

Creating a blog was also an effective channel for expressing my opinions and seeing others’ ideas. Depending on personalities, some people tend not to speak out in class(I am one of them). That is not because they do not have any thoughts about the topics we discussed in class, but because it is just the way they are. However, thanks to the blogs, we shared in this course, I could read others’ points of view to see things differently. For example, I know some people who never spoke in class, but I found that they had excellent opinions which were interesting to me. Furthermore, since we had to write about personal management problems and visions, it was a pleasant surprise to see the different aspects of some classmates.

As for one of the roles of the blog assignments which let us manage and control 20% of our grade by responding on a timely basis to the 8 assignments given, I think it can be harder than taking one more test for some students. Especially if they are not native speakers or do not enjoy writing, it can be really hard and takes time. Personally, writing in English always gives me a lot of stress. I love to write, but since English is not my first language, it did not offset my test anxieties by appropriate attention to my blog, which was unfortunate.

Additionally, I doubt if the blog was a good communication tool in this course. It definitely provided a way to see how others think about certain topics, but in most cases, it was only one-way communication rather than interacting with each other. As you know, a lot of Baruch students come to school while working either full time or part time. As a result of it, I do not think most of us had enough time to check others’ blogs and post new blog entries on a regular basis.

Overall, the assignment of creating a personal blog was a wonderful idea. Though it was not easy for me to do, it definitely gave me a chance to learn something new. From my perspective, the blog assignment should be remained for this course. That is because it is a good way of sharing our perspectives on various issues with others, getting to know classmates better, and understanding class materials effectively.

However, I am not sure about using my blog to post my thoughts and ideas after this class. Though I loved the idea, it took too much time for me to write something. Since I am a full time student while working full time now, I want to focus more on preparing for my future career for the time being.

DISC read me!

The result of the Personal Profile System exactly gauged my management type. I am the C type who is “working conscientiously within existing circumstances to ensure quality and accuracy.” I am detail-oriented, I weigh pros and cons when making a decision, and I try to get my tasks done perfectly. I also ask a lot of “why”s because it helps me better understand and analyze things, so that I can ensure the accuracy for my work.

My second strong type was the D, which is also correct. The D type appears to be quite opposite from my character because I am such a shy person. However, oddly enough, I love to try new things and accept challenges.

Being the type C is beneficial to me in pursuing my career as an accountant because ensuring quality and accuracy is one of the most important qualities in the field. Therefore, I do not wish I were another type. However, I wish I had some of the characteristics of the “I” type who “shapes the environment by influencing or persuading others.” When we work, doing tasks accurately is not all we need. To be successful at any field, we often need to have the ability to “create a motivational environment, make a favorable impression to others, and verbalize with articulateness.”

From my perspective, it will be very helpful to determine people’s management types to better understand where they are coming from. By understanding others’ characteristics, we can accomplish our goal at the work place more effectively. Depending on the individuals’ types, we can decide which tasks will be suitable to whom, and how team members should be assigned if it is a team project. People are different, and we can use the differences as resources. The key to success is how much we understand and utilize them.

The DISC test will also help us in other personal interactions. Whether it is a love relationship, familial relationships, or friendships, understanding my own personality type and others’ will be helpful. We often encounter conflicts in life, and in most cases, they come from a lack of understanding about each other. Knowing DISC results of others will definitely allow better understanding and communication

My goals during the five years after graduation!

What I really wish to achieve within 5 years of graduation is to be a Certified Public Accountant, to finish graduate school with an MBA degree, and to travel to two or three countries in Europe for two months.

My first goal that I want to achieve is to be a Certified Public Accountant(CPA) during the third year after my graduation. To get the license, I need to pass the CPA license test and have at least two years of experience at an accounting firm. To achieve it, I am studying very hard and trying to do at least two internship jobs at accounting firms. Maintaining a good GPA with relevant experience will help me to prepare for the test and to get hired at one of the big accounting firms. Furthermore, this year I joined an honor’s club only for students majoring in accounting, finance, and CIS, so that I can broaden my knowledge about the accounting field as well as the test and expand my network with others.

Another goal that I wish to accomplish during the five years after graduation is to finish graduate school with an MBA degree at NYU. To achieve this goal, I need good grades and related work experiences to gain acceptance from NYU. As for maintaining a strong GPA, I think I am doing fine. This year I got a scholarship in recognition of my academic excellence from one of the big accounting firms, so I will keep doing the same way I do for my grades now. In addition, I also need to take a GMAT test, and I am planning to take it during the first year after my graduation. I have already bought three GMAT test books last month. Since I will be busy with my work and preparing for the CPA test during the first year, I am planning to prepare for it in advance.

The last goal that I wish to have during the five years after graduation is to travel to two or three countries for two months. I would like to do it a few months before the fifth year of my five-year plan ends. After my first and second goals are achieved, I think I need to take a break because I will do both of them while working full time. I know myself well. Once I decide to do something, I just go for my goal. However, what I learned from my experience is that I need some time to refresh myself, so that I am not going to be knocked out due to complete exhaustion. One method that really works for me is to leave where I am for a while and travel. It gives me a great deal of energy to start again. I would say that the break is a path to achieving my next goal; therefore, I always include it in my short term goals. However, to do this, I should try to get my first two goals done completely, so that I do not need to worry about my future after the trip. I will also save 7 percent of my income during the five years for this trip.

The five years after my graduation will be the period that prepares me for my career advancement. As you can see, three goals are related to each other in a sense because completion of one goal can lead to another. Since the actions of my first goal already started, I do my best everyday.

Decision making...

My mid-term score was a disaster to me. Therefore, when the professor suggested that we have a chance to make a proposal to him about what should be done for the present result and the future test, I was eager to participate… ready to collaborate. Though we had less than 50 minutes, and the professor requested that we need 100% agreement for the proposal, there seemed to be hope. Most of my classmates looked anxious to make the best one too.

However, I soon realized that getting 100% class agreement would be impossible. The time constraint was one obstacle. In addition to it, the score difference between the highest and the lowest was very wide, and the preference of the test structure varied. As a result, what each individual wanted from the proposal was different from each other, which made us fail to get the total agreement before the class ended. Moreover, some proposals seemed too unreasonable to propose, such as 25 points extra-credit. That is why, during the class decision process, I chose the “avoidance” method. Especially, when I noticed the fact that some opinions were ignored, it made me sure that there’s “no chance of winning.”

Obviously, we needed 100% agreement for a proposal. According to the characteristics of some of my classmates who are very outspoken and assertive, I do not think “compete to win” would have worked. “Accomodation” sounds idealistic, but considering some classmates’ attitudes who did not listen to others, saying “That’s stupid.”, I doubt it would have worked. Also, “collaborating” would have been a good idea, but I do not think we had enough time to implement the method.

If I could choose a way with the same constraint of time and 100% agreement, from my perspective, the best way to get a more desirable result would be to “compromise.” Our interest was similar in a broad level, but there were some who insisted to get what they wanted without caring about others’ positions and listening to them. If every single person insists on what he or she wants, how can we achieve total agreement? We need to balance our self-interest somewhere in-between where everyone can be satisfied. To reach the goal, we should not assert our own points as if they are the only way, give in to the possible benefits of others’ suggestions to some extent, and try to understand others’ opinions. If we had used the “compromise” method from the beginning, we would have gotten the proposal before the class ended, and the chaotic situation would not have happened.

Saving the egg...

My team’s goal was clear: saving the poor egg when it crashed into the plastic basket from 10 feet high. So….. as soon as we were told that we had to plan and design how to build an egg protection device out of 8 straws and 2 feet of masking tape in 25 minutes, we first tried to figure out what kind of resources we had.

The finding: the only thing we had, except human resources, was a nail clipper.

Since we only had 25 minutes to come up with the ideas without actually applying them, it was hard to figure out which design would be the best in reality. There were several ideas we considered: a triangle-shaped device, a square-shaped one, and- the riskiest of the all- a basket shape. We were eager to listen to each other, which could have been a good thing in other situation, but it prevented us from going further. So, what happened? Till the last minute, we could not make up our minds about which one we were going to use. Therefore, when the 10 minute building period started, we still were not sure about what to do. Thinking about the possible alternatives was no longer an option, and as time went on, we were almost screaming. Everybody was focusing on the one thing. “Let’s build and finish it in time!”

I admit that all the members in my team tried and did our best, but our plan toward our goal was not planned well. From my perspective, the problem was our poor skill of managing the limited time and not knowing each other’s abilities well. When we have little time to finish a project, we should allocate time efficiently depending on what kind of resources we have. We should use human resources in an efficient way by specifying who does what. However, the way we did it was to do the same thing all together at the same time, which resulted in a waste of time.

In fact, it was a very interesting group project. To plan and come up with the ideas to build the efficient egg protective device within such a limited time with other classmates was very fun, but it wasn’t easy. To be more effective, in my opinion, we should have managed the time efficiently, and we should have known each member’s abilities better. In other words, our team should have made a decision as quickly as possible, thought about other possible ways to build it in case the first one did not work well, and most of all, organized each one’s role specifically.

My biggest management problem at the moment

The biggest management problem I am now facing involves my roommates. I have three roommates, all girls, with different ages. Right after we moved in February this year, we got together and talked about certain things to keep our place as pleasant as possible. Cleaning our place was one of the topics.

Our agreements: taking turns every two weeks; cleaning the kitchen, the living room, and the bathroom; not leaving any food behind.

It has been seven months since we began to share our place together, and cleaning our apartment is a constant issue. Depending on who is responsible for it, our place looks and smells quite different. It seems that some are aware of what should be cleaned quickly and do it, but others do not even notice if the smell from the bathroom makes others feel nauseous. We had two more meetings and discussed this issue. We clarified what were essential procedures to be done when cleaning in detail. However, we still have the same problems, and finally, a little and cute creature(as my friend described), a mouse, showed up in my place.

In my opinion, the problem I have comes from each roommate’s diffefent level of awareness and responsibility toward the same issue. I do not want to hurt my roommates’ feelings by pointing out dirty spots whenever I see them. On the other hand, I do not want to live with a mouse either.

Does anyone have good ideas about what to do in my situation?