All 7 entries tagged Actions

Follow–up on Organising yourself and your time

Workshop Tutor: Lisa Faulkner

Heres a summary of how I've been getting on with my action points

1. Time Bound
   

   A task should be time bound because it exercises control over the amount of time spent on a particular task. Hence by being time bound for example we can allocate sufficient time for our project research and our day to day studies, etc. Being time bound also helps in protecting our time efficiently because of strict time measures allocated to a particular task.

   
   
2. Leadership
   

   If i get an opportunity to lead a team for example lead a group project i will make the most of the experience. For a leader to be effective i believe the ability to communicate one's hidden ideas to a group of people is of utmost priority. A leader should have a dominant personality and the ability to think like a visionary.

   
   
3. Specific
   

   A specific goal has much greater chances of becoming accomplished rather than a general goal because of a precise particular task that a person sets himself.For example, I want to be more specific about my project thesis and i intend to finish it by end of July so that i have enough time to work on my thesis and dissertation.

   
   
4. Realistic
   

   A realistic goal must represent something that you are willing to work towards irrespective of the amount of hardships that you will have to achieve while attaining it. If you are realistic in setting up tasks and achieving it then you have set your unconscious mind working towards a specific realistic goal.

Fahad Shaikh : 08 Nov 2013 00:50 |  Tags: Actions Follow-Up P7 Portfolio Wspa |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Follow–up on Getting started on skills development and the Warwick Skills Portfolio

Workshop Tutor: Amanda Randall

Heres a summary of how I've been getting on with my action points

1. Time Bound
   

   For a specific task to work it should be time bound. Hence i have set myself a goal and have i have to work towards it in a particular amount of time. Hence having a time frame in mind helps one to achieve a goal systematically and in an efficient way. So before starting with a task now i always question myself, "How much time should i spend on this task?". Hence it makes things easier for me.

   
   
2. Leadership
   

   If i get an opportunity to lead a team i will make the most of the opportunity to gain something significant out of it and help me improve further in life because by being a leader you have to be confident of what you speak. Think before judging other peoples ideas and be more specific and hence speak wherever appropriate and to have the most interactive ideas of them all. I will be looking forward for a chance to show my leadership skills and to be able to communicate my ideas to a group of people and working together to achieve common objectives.

   
   
3. Measurable
   

   This action point leads me to measure the things i do in day to day life. To be able to measure the number of articles or the number of companies i have applied to for graduate job positions. Hence measurability is of a significant and distinguished importance for myself because it get me more and more organised and efficient.

   
   
4. Achievable
   

   A goal is achievable if its something that you know you can achieve hence i have set myself an achievable goal to finish my project dissertation and thesis by the end of july so that i get plenty of time to apply for graduate positions and i think it is something i can commit to and i know that i am time bound hence need to calculate the optimum amount of time i should put in to get the optimum results.

Fahad Shaikh : 08 Nov 2013 00:31 |  Tags: Actions Follow-Up P1 Portfolio Wspa |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Follow–up on Organising yourself and your time

Workshop Tutor: Lisa Faulkner

Heres a summary of how I've been getting on with my action points

1. Doing my work on time before the deadlines
   

   The effective ways in which we can meet our deadlines are as follows:

   1. Staying organised and knowing and planning how to complete a set of things based on the deadlines and priorities.

   2. Avoiding Procrastination : We are all prey to feeling and thinking that there is enough time left to complete and assignment and inturn delay it further and further. The solution can be breaking up tasks into smaller sub tasks and finding a way of dealing with them effectively.

   
   
2. Ranking tasks according to their priorities
   

   Ranking tasks according to their priorities is an effective way of dealing with them SMARTLY. Using soft deadlines for smaller tasks and sub tasks can be an effective way of dealing with tasks that are set to be completed first amongst others.

   
   
3. Implementing all my tasks and events on a GANTT chart to simplify my work effectively
   

   I have started using the GANTT chart effectively and it is indeed very helpful in noting down tasks and the deadlines assigned to it. It helps us to breakdown the project into smaller tasks for efficient handling of the work.

   
   
4. Identify my time stealers and learn better time management over them
   

   I have effectively tried and have overcome the effect of time stealers in my day to day life. Now i always plan my day in advance and ask myself "what is the best use of my time right now" and hence it helps me set priorities and focus my time and my energy on more significant tasks and now i do my best to complete one tasks completely before jumping on to another so that i dont waste my time coming back and spending significant time on the same tasks again. Moreover, i have started arranging set times of the day for friends, family and socialising.

Fahad Shaikh : 25 Oct 2013 01:09 |  Tags: Actions Follow-Up P7 Portfolio Wspa |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Follow–up on Getting started on skills development and the Warwick Skills Portfolio

Workshop Tutor: Amanda Randall

Heres a summary of how I've been getting on with my action points

1. Improve my leadership skills by motivating others in a team to achieve common objectives
   

   The appropriate solution i believe in getting better leadership skills is having a great idea and motivating a team to bring your own idea to life. Firstly, to be a leader you should be honest with yourself and your team and make honesty and ethical behaviour a key value and then the team will follow suit. Effective communication is one of the most significant quality that distinguishes you from a normal person and a leader. To be able to clearly describe what you want to get accomplished is extremely important.

   
   
2. Self promote myself by speaking wherever appropriate and be in charge of the situation
   

   One of the key things that can help you to self promote yourself is getting an effective feedback from people around you. Secondly, having the self confidence in you can help in a big way in promoting your work. Joining a conversation with keys ideas in mind and interacting and delivering your ideas can help you gain better self confidence and help you promote yourself and be more open in delivering ideas in your mind.

   
   
3. Planning and prioritising things and thus saving much of my valuable time
   

   The benefits of planning and prioritising things are many. The first and most effective being more responsible about your time better and managing it efficiently.Planning defines a better course of action. A well thought out and planned day helps us to make the most of our time while doing multiple things effectively.

   
   
4. Improve my academic skills further
   

   Academic Skills is all about helping ourselves become a more effective learner at University level and developing the research and study skills that will help you now and in the future. Developing good academic skills will help us achieve the academic success that reflects your full potential. Most of the skills we will develop during your studies are transferable to future careers.

Fahad Shaikh : 25 Oct 2013 00:54 |  Tags: Actions Follow-Up P1 Portfolio Wspa |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

First entry on Effective learning strategies

Workshop Tutor: Ceri Marriot

Introduction

What is learning?

Well i suppose we have never given this single word a significant thought in our busy lives, but "learning" is something that we do all the time whether knowingly or unknowingly, we are always learning from our actions. Learning is a multi faceted process and it involves various stages in how we learn from the things we do in our day to day lives. Learning, in my perception can be defined as acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, skills, behaviour and our individual set of values. Learning is an ongoing process and the ability to learn effectively depends on individual to individual.

Firstly, learning is easier and more effective when an individual is in the correct state of mind. To make our learning more meaningful and effective we need to put in efforts to fully understand a topic of interest. Learning can also be achieved through day to day experiences. Secondly, having a positive attitude towards learning a specific topic is very essential and being organised in the right frame of mind helps us to learn better. Thirdly, learning constitutes of surface learning and deep learning. The latter being understanding things deeply rather than having short term and poor outputs. Efficient learning is when we are well organised and have set our priorities and short term and long term goals and are motivated towards it.

Well while concluding in my perception, the effective learning strategies workshop was very helpful for me wherein i was exposed to greater detailed facts of "learning". Furthermore, i will always try and devise effective learning strategies in the future for optimal learning purposes.

Actions

1. Use C-R-E-A-M strategies

2. Becoming more self aware

3. Create a positive state of mind for learning

4. Be organised and set my priorities with my clear goals and intentions

To write a follow up, go to http://go.warwick.ac.uk/skills//blog

Fahad Shaikh : 25 Oct 2013 00:30 |  Tags: A4 Portfolio Actions Wspa |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

First entry on Organising yourself and your time

Workshop Tutor: Lisa Faulkner

Introduction

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma- which is living the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others opinions drown out your inner voice and most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary” – Steve Jobs

Well on such a beautiful note let me start briefing about my latest workshop titled “Organising yourself and your time” conducted by Ms. Lisa Faulkner. Firstly, we all know the significance of time management in our lives and how it affects our day to day work. If we have well defined objectives and tasks to finish in a stipulated amount of time it would lead us to be immune from missed deadlines and frustrations in life.

The appropriate solution or the key things for time management, I believe can be structuring your time better and to have specific goals and the resilience to complete that on time. Secondly, analysing facts and situations and applying creative thinking to develop appropriate solutions that saves much of your time should be deployed. Critical thinking and the ability to plan and prioritize things according to the way in which it should be done can help reduce time wastage. Organising yourself and motivating yourself and on top of that rewarding yourselves for task you have finished in time should be implemented. It is necessary to point out that time reserved for leisure should be given equal importance and have fixed defined time intervals wherein you can remove time for your own self and for socialising with others so that you don’t miss out on the social sector of your lives.

Commitment, consistency and competency are the three C’s that will help you improve you and your time better.

Well while concluding, this workshop did help me to improve on my time management skills and help me identify my time stealers and accordingly manage my time more effectively and efficiently and in future I intend to do my work promptly, elegantly, perfectly and on time !

Actions

1. Doing my work on time before the deadlines.

2. Ranking tasks according to their priorities.

3. Implementing all my tasks and events on a GANTT chart to simplify my work effectively

4. Identify my time stealers and learn better time management over them

To write a follow up, go to http://go.warwick.ac.uk/skills//blog

Fahad Shaikh : 10 Oct 2013 21:16 |  Tags: Actions P7 Portfolio Wspa |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

First entry on Getting started on skills development and the Warwick Skills Portfolio

Workshop Tutor: Amanda Randall

Introduction

"What is Reflection?"

Well, that’s an interesting question.

In order to appreciate that perspective, just throw your mind back to your past experiences. I myself never had the time to ask myself about the things I had done in the past, but I did draw a portrait of me looking at my relfection in a still and a clear lake wondering of all the things I had done in the past and to think about them deeply and to inflict on the emotions and to learn and derive something useful from it for future purposes.

Western culture is materialistic, very fast and anxiety proned. Technology is intended to make our lives easier, but every good has some bad associated with it. Today, we complaint of decline in concentration, we expect faster results, we rely on multiple information sources rather than one, etc. Well in such a fast paced life did we ever get the time to stand by a lake and ask yourself whether our past incidents should be taken into account while bracing ourselves for tomorrow?

Well last week I had attended an unusually interesting workshop, something of a kind which I had never ever even thought of attending before. To put it simply, it’s one of the workshops aimed for acquiring the Warwick Skills Portfolio Award (WSPA). It indeed lets you know and understand yourself better.

Well the WSPA has a range of personal and academic skills to choose from and to benefit each and every individual registering for the programme. To begin with, all the students were seated in groups of four. It is worth noting that after Ms. Amanda Randall gave her introductory speech, we were asked to initiate and talk amongst our own groups to know our group members better and on top of it all after getting to know your group members we actually had to introduce our group members except ourselves to everyone present at the workshop and it was fun. For the first time in my life I was introducing someone else to the audience and it was fun having the responsibility of portraying someone else’s life and achievements to the crowd. It is worth noting that activities like these help to improve your abilities and skills multifold and on the other hand making you more confident and sure while dealing with people from all walks of life.

Furthermore, we had questionnaires to help discover our learning style preferences and indeed the results were true and depicted me the way i am in day to day life.

To conclude, it is difficult to portray yourselves into the mind of another person through writing, but guys trust me this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and its highly worth it.

Actions

1. Improve my leadership skills by motivating others in a team to achieve common objectives.

2. Self promote myself by speaking wherever appropriate and be in charge of the situation.

3. Planning and prioritising things and thus saving much of my valuable time.

4. Improve my academic skills further

To write a follow up, go to http://go.warwick.ac.uk/skills//blog

Fahad Shaikh : 08 Oct 2013 18:45 |  Tags: Actions P1 Portfolio Wspa |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem