Final entry for Warwick Skills Portfolio Award

My journey to achieve this award has been an interesting and rewarding one and yes (very cliché) I found out a lot about myself. I’ve chosen to write my final entry in the structure of the reflective learning bookmark we got from the workshops to show in very simple terms my personal development.

What did I do well and not so well?

I believe I put my experiences across well when it came to the blogging after a slight nudge in the right direction at first by one of the tutors. I think that it is a tool for later life which can be used in workplace to analyaze your performance; this can be in short run on projects or in the long run for example what you have contributed to the company. I found that I wasn’t really that involved when it came to my participation in the workshop however and that I was maybe not so open. I believe that I could improve on this in the future by sitting down and discussing this emotional issue with a close friend or acquaintance. I take this from my action plan on the P6 Emotional Intelligence workshop. I found it to be an effective action point and I am sure if I implement it I will see results in this situation as well.

How do I feel about it?

Put shortly I feel good about it. I was never taking a negative attitude towards anything. I found everything we talked about useful; some things more so than others. In terms of my ambition for going for the award I believe that I have actually developed through doing the blogs and am now able to talk with confidence on a number of skill topics; I have found this really satisfying because it’s something that stays with you and will benefit me in the future for my career.

Is there anything I want to stop doing?

Well not really. Basically I gave it some good thought and basically I’ve realized that a lot of the activities I took in my action points have become habit now. It all comes together in the P7 Organising Yourself and your time workshop. I sit down approximately every 3 months and write down a list of everything that I need done and prioritise the tasks according to Urgency and Importance. This includes things like attending networking events and careers session to increase my knowledge of careers skills with regard to the P9 workshop as well as limiting my social networking time by going on in the morning which is realistic and frees up more time for other activities.

What could I start doing?

I believe that when it comes to my career I haven’t really researched or given it some serious thought. I generally tend to reply to my career ambitions that I want to the financial sector. This leaves a lot to be said and a lot to be done when it comes to applications. By paying attention towards a certain sector or profession it can make it easier to bring across your motivation for applying and what your ambitions are because you’ve done your research. I am going to put this on my list of things I want to get done during the summer after completing my exams.

Could I try something different?

I’ve been attending workshops and I intend to do on future on academic and personal skills. However, I think it’s about time I tried to use them and get involved a bit more actively with societies and help organise and market events. Marketing is something I really want to try as well and I enjoy talking to people.

What and who will help me develop my learning further?

In terms of what can develop my learning further I learnt from P9 Career Planning that there are still so many more workshops and events that I can go to which can continue to learn and develop. I will keep posted by visiting My Advantage. I am also subscribed to the newsletter which brings me updates every month or so; that will be a great way to keep in the loop. As for who can help I have the e-mails of some of the tutors whose workshops I attended and discussed different things with him and intend to keep in touch with. As well as the tutors a lot of my friends in university are good to talk to on these matters; not only do they provide a fresh perspective to things but they’re more heavily involved with things than I am, so they’ll be able to give me some ideas and some of their initiative will rub off on me.

What might hinder my progress?

I’ve got a few possibilities:

• Myself losing motivation
• My academics which will be really busy next year as its third year
• Applying for graduate jobs and internships

I think I can make some progress towards all three by simply planning ahead which will make me less tempted to just drop stuff. As for the first point I don’t think that I would lose the motivation especially if I was involved in a society because there would be that feeling of responsibility that I need to do well and I would be enjoying it if I had chosen something I liked that is.

Overall, I’ve really enjoyed the experience and seen the change. I’m really excited to see what will happen next year and also even in this summer. Talking and explaining about my motivation to apply to certain internships will no longer feel like a chore and I have come to understand more about myself; what I’m good at bad at, my personality, my preferences, my skill set and many other things. All of which are very important things in today’s world.

Harun Ahasan

: 19 Apr 2012 23:06 |  Tags: P1 Portfolio |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

A1 Final Entry

It has come time for my final entry. I believe that I have been effective in implementing my action plan in the following ways:

1. The implementation of the Cornell system has gone really well (genuinely). I think its a really useful revision technique especially with material that I have where you have solid blocks of text. It also helps with my economics modules where a lot of text has to be read for a more in depth knowledge of the subject and topic area. I even managed to extend it to some other modules I'm taking most noticabely statistics which was really helpful as it enabled me to create a set of notes which is more effective for revison; i can higlight my cues in this case steps ina  proof or refering back to some previous theorem. This all makes things a lot smoother. 

2. This has some overlap with the P7 workshop but applied to note making. As I go along anything I cant understand or something I'm unsure of I can then go back to and check what I slipped up on or read in more detail using internet or other resources. I also use it for other things at home and work etc. Its a great way to keep on top of those little things you didnt originally think of and you get randomly remided of.

3. I eventually did come up with something I used the different colours of the stickies for techniques or definitions theorems etc. That makes a quickfire revision technique when I come back to look over close to the exam so my brain quickly associates a certain technique in a topic for example. My brains going to do that of course so I cant say for sure Ill remeber it .

For future improvement I believe I'm going to continue to use the Cornell system but integrate it more. Come next year I'll write the notes of the boards straight into that format so come the beginning of revision time i've already got something effective to refresh my memory. Ill continue with the practice of point 2 as well becuase apart from the ususal things I organize i dont have the time to be getting involved so its easy to make a note and come abck later.

Tutor: Han Na Cha

: 04 Apr 2012 20:30 |  Tags: A1 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

A1 Reflective Entry

Hi due to the short period of time in which there is left to write my reflective entry. 

With regard to both of the first two points I am continuing as usual. I have now found 

an alternative way for the second by prioritising the things that I need to do and putting 

the urgent things into my phone calendar so that I can get alerts about what I need to 

do on that particular day that can't wait.

As for the third point I've found the sticky notes particularly useful when a certain technique 

or rule comes up. I can then use shorthand and use different colours depending on what it is 

that is being investigated so when I comes to questions I know that this is what is being used 

here and what's going on here etc.

Tutor: Han Na Cha

: 03 Apr 2012 21:03 |  Tags: A1 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

A1 Reflective Entry

Hi I've been kind of busy with revision and so have not really done the reflective entries yet. I think I have made significant progress however. As the final entry is due very soon I'm going to have to write the reflective entries very close together.

For my 1st action point Ive been really active I went further than using it in social sciences subject such as economics and used the system for my statistics as well which I found particularly useful as it allows me to easily make sense of a large chunk of text. This is especially true when your notes are all off the board in lectures and you dont really have time to structure the material.

With regard to 2nd action point I think this has been the most useful of all because anything Urgent or important task that I need done I can quickly take note of and have their next to me. THis overlaps with the P7 workshop, and I believe that it makes me more tme efficient.

The thrid point i still need to find some outlet to do. Will write again in 2 days. Hope this is good enough.

Tutor: Han Na Cha

: 31 Mar 2012 10:57 |  Tags: A1 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P10 Final Entry

It has come time for my final entry. I have had some signifciant achievement when it comes to first and second point.

As for the third point I have attended a netwrok session with bloomberg. However, I found that even they seemed to misunderstand the concept and were stating qualitites they seek in candidates. However, those traits are as a result of the persons personality. Pesonally I believe that it was a bit of a fake point because really I need to match my personality to the job not the other way round as then I'll only shoot myself in the foot.

With regards to the second point I believe that I have made the most progres which is ironic as it wasnt about myself; i guess its testimony to my extravert dimension which was also the highest percentage expressed in the online MBTI test i took. I noticed that the friends I made were opposite to me in terms of their MBTI roughly as I cant really get them to take the test as they all seem to have short attetnion spans. They aslo were ambivlaent about their type. However, I did learn a lot about who thought what about each dimension and of others

The first point I think I have also fufilled I took an online test. I was slightly expressed in all the dimensions i noticed (which I believe is correct as seen form my previous entries about not leaning toards either side tooo much). As for the dimensions themselves, extravert, sensing, thinking and judging. I believe that is me and I am more importantly happy with it and only because I said so and that is why.

For future improvement I believe that I will carry on with my intention of having these conversations with close friends and family. It should make for some interesting and stimulating talk. As for the career thing in point 3 I should have actually written that in future before clicking the send button on an application I'll stand back and think to myself what is it that the company is looking for and how do I fit in as a person with a specific personality. Should make for some serious life reflection.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this workshop and hope to continue my knowledge of the area.

Harun Ahasan

: 30 Mar 2012 23:16 |  Tags: P10 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P7 Final Entry

It has now come the time for my final entry related to the P7 Organising yourself and your time workshop. With respect to my first action point I think I have succeeded and have noticed in a significant improvement in my organisation and how much work I get done. I found that it also greatly helped as my day would just go by the plan; obviously there are occasions when it doesn't. However, the general improvement is a nice thing to have. As for the second point since making my plan I've found that I am a lot more motivated and have some direction. I don't always have that naggig feeling saying that I hadn't done something or that I should be doing something else. Quite a few goals have already been achieved including almost completing the Portfolio award. As for point 3 I believe that it has been fairly effective before I used to be able to while away 3 hours ago. However, even then I am able to find outlets. I need to find out what is URGENT and what is IMPORTANT!! In terms of improvement I have come up with some ideas to take my action plan further into the future; I don't want this to be a one of experience. For the first action point I've decided that when I make my to do list I'm going to prioritise the task as urgent, important or not urgent, not important so that I know whether I can delay or delegate them to someone else. This should free up about an hour for me to get other stuff done. For the second point I'm simply going to do the same thing during other times of the year more likely after exams, beginning of next year and after January exams. Finally for the third point apart from carrying asking myself whenever I want to have some leisure time I'll switch on the alarm on my phone to make sure that I don't take precious time away. I personally think that's a bit crazy but I can't think of a more sensible way of stopping myself. Overall I think that the workshop was a success for me and with my continuos improvement goals I believe I stand myself well to get as much out of every single free moment and figure out how to free up more of my time so I can do that same thing.

: 27 Mar 2012 17:01 |  Tags: P7 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P7 Reflective Entry

It has come time for me to once again write a reflective entry I've found that my SMART goal has now been almost permanently ingrained in my psyche. I think I could add to it however and create an actual 2 do list as recommended. After all there is no harm. I also think it would be particularly useful as it frees time for study which is one of the tips on sheet given out in workshop. My plan from now till the exams is also well on course and hopefully should be complete as intended with a first class if I'm lucky. As for the procrastinating now that I'm home I find myself increasingly finding outlets of distraction which I couldn't find at university. The worst being TV and my family. However family is staying on the list their too precious too ignore, done enough of that during the term. So instead I need to come up with a quota for using the TV. Oh yes and I have deactivated my Facebook account (thought I'd casually drop that in). It's remained off for 1 week now and I think its become habit now! Although it's definitely back on as soon as exams are finished! Apart from that it's all going as planned; the plan being to plan ahead and never forget to plan in future!! "Failing to plan is planning to fail" (Benjamin Franklin) Tutor: Beverly

: 21 Mar 2012 22:50 |  Tags: P7 Portfolio |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

A1 Action Plan

After attending the session on reading and note taking I feel significantly motivated on certain aspects of the way in which I go about these activities and I'm going to act on that by formulating a plan and seeing how that goes for next few weeks.

1. During my revision in subjects requiring a lot of note taking eg economics i'm going to use Cornell system as I found it particularly beneficialespecially when i'm working at my own pace.

2. During these periods of study I'm going to keep a seperate rough sheet of paper down next to me to write notes telling me how i can organize as I go along or something i'm having particular problems with.

3. I'm going to use to maximum affect the sticky notes given to me. Although i think I'm going to have to buy a bigger pad as theyre fairly small and cool with the tissue box and everything. However, they will be used to mark out the points of importance in notes (eg proofs that could come up in exam). Ill come up with some other things probably.

: 16 Mar 2012 09:49 |  Tags: A1 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P10 Reflective Entry

Another week gone by and the time for another reflective entry has come.

I have just completed a half module assesment with a gruelling few days in the learning Grid and library. During that time a lot of the people I talked to whom I also knew i noticed a change in. I noticed that wheh they were focused on that goal of finishing their project I noticed that they became more introvertive.

Thats not me bmaking things up. I'm actually genuinely truthful about this. I believe that sometimes intense periods of focus can cause people to radically alter themselves; it varies with each person. Through this experience I've both learnt how to categorise people and also the shifting dynamics of this topic.

As for a particular one of my friends (who has done the Portfolio Award) I talked to him on the topic and we had some intense discussion which was unfortunately interupted. However, I noticed that he also was of the mind that your personality is ever shifting and through that we came to know even more about each other than we previously did. He told me a few things (which I'm not going to mention because I have great respect for him) that I didnt know. THis was someone I considered my inner circle.

Its interesting to see how different MBTI types interact and the means in which they interact. I look forward to my final entry to conclude all these thoughts and experiences.

: 16 Mar 2012 09:41 |  Tags: P10 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P7 Reflective Entry

After a week of making my action plan I feel more fulfilled on some of my action points.

With regards to my SMART goal I have been successful and have sat down each day at breakfast to think about what it is I need to do and this eventually leads to the tasks being done during the day. However, I have not been making a written list. I think I'll try to get that done by my next blog entry.

I havent really addressed the second action point becuase of the severity of my workload. However, come thurday I'll have some breathing space so when my next blog entry comes round I'll go into detail on that.

The third point i think is the one that has come in most use whenever I use it. Witha ig assignment deadline coming up every time my mind wnaders or I'm distracted i bring my mind back to that incumbent deadline. It actually genuinely scares me; so very effective!!

: 13 Mar 2012 21:44 |  Tags: P7 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P10 Reflective Entry

After another week ive come to write my reflective entry.

I have to agree with your previous comment about different people having different concepts about what personality type they are and whether they are firmly rooted to that idea or they believe they change like me. Ive especially noticed this with my closer friends. I've indirectly been talking to them on this issue. When I ask them what they think of me their views generally seemed to be coherrent with mine; although they didnt agree with my view that my personlaity type was very fluid. I guess it just depends on the context in which you talk in. Some of my friends see me in a certain way than others.

As for your comments about employers I'll keep that in mind and make sure I just keep the MBTI for my own personal realtionships with peolpe. I havent really categorised people yet; in some ways I find it quite hard. Its kind of hard to ask them something like:

"If you had a gun to your head would you say that you were E or I in this dimension :D"

Its just hard to get people to open up about these things especially if they think its a load of rubbish; could use a few tips?

: 11 Mar 2012 14:46 |  Tags: P10 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P7 Action Plan

Having attended the workshop P7 Organising yourself and your time I have constructed a 3 point action plan.

1. My SMART Goal is to create a to-do list every morning whilst having breakfast (so as to avoid time wastage alter in the day) when my time is more precious.

2. I'm going to sit down soon after the workshop and planned exactly what I want done between now and the exams.

3. I'm going to continuosly think to myself whenever i find myself procastinating "what is it I'm stopping myself from doing". Aside from this every friday afternoon on the way home I'm going to think to myself what is getting in the way of my goals and what can I possibly do to remove that obstacle.

P.S. I very much enjoyed the workshop it struck a chord with me :D

: 05 Mar 2012 21:06 |  Tags: P7 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P10 Action Plan

After attending the workshop for Understanding your personality I yhave constructed a 3 point action plan to take away from the workshop. That is as follows

1. During some period of extensive free time (which I dont really have but I'll make somehow) I will take another go at exercises in the session and compare what I find to what happened in session. I found that my personality seemed to change a fair bit over time and it would be interesting to see what it is like in a period of relative calm.

2. I'm going to try the same thing with a friend and see what his thoughts on what he found about himself and me are; whether he believe that what he came out with was really him?

3. Next time at some sort fo networking session or some other work related event, I could discuss the contents of workshop with employers and ccompare what they look for with the qualitites possesed by the different dimension E, I etc

: 02 Mar 2012 11:15 |  Tags: P10 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P6 Final Entry

Having written two reflective entries it has come time for me to write my last and final entry. I have thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the workshop including the blog I might add. I learnt that emotional intelligence has no single definition or it is not obtained through one quality alone. It is a mixture of knowing about your own emotions others and others and then acting on that information. 1. I believe that my SMART Goal has been achieved. I generally keep my temper never the less However, under particular stress I can lash out. I believe that it all comes from external sources and that then the anger from inside me wells up when things don't go as well as I was expecting them. 2. As I said before I used to do this before attending the workshop without realising that I was doing such a thing however now that I am doing it with an objective I believe it has become more effective. This is particularly true for when I have a bad day because it allows me to try and get to root cays eof what's upsetting me 3. I believe that I've been particularly successful in this area especially as I like to socialise a lot. The person I talked about last time has delved into his enotions since last time we met. We had a discussion about emotional intelligence mad he had some constructive goals. In fact I think he may well be more aware of his own emotions than I am! For the future I intend to continue with points 1 and 2 as usual. They don't take much time and help in day to day life and I think even help to motivate me to do something better : ) Apart from this I think that every now and then I will sit down for lunch with a friend and go over this same topic and see where the conversation ends up; maybe other people as well whom I meet through networking. It would also be good practice for when I hopefully get a job. That is all ( the journey will continue however) Tutor: Samantha Tarren

: 01 Mar 2012 12:51 |  Tags: P6 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P6 Reflective Entry

After another week on deciding on what to write for this entry heres what I have come up with

In terms of angry I think I probably need to address that a little more as I havent really found out a way to decide on what particular part of it I am experiencing (irritation, at others inability to anwser questions). However, I think that regular use of action point 2 is the best thing because I'm quite good at doing it and often did before the workshop though spontaneously without realizing (which ususally resulted in guilt). I took acton point 3 a little further and was having a discussion with someone about it and invited him to the wrokshop. He seems to be slightly more aware fo his emotions but he loses this when a particualr weak point of his comes up and then he reseorts back to the same rut. I think that will result in interesting converstaion and at some point he'll actually open up. I hope your not considering i'm doing this just for my own purposes I intend to give him my solid support never the less

Tutor: Samantha Tarren

: 22 Feb 2012 23:24 |  Tags: P6 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P9 Final Entry

Having completed the workshop and commented on my progress I have come to the end and my final entry.

I have addressed all three action plans to some degree; I'm not gonna lie and say I'm now perfectly aware of what I want to do and that its the most amzing thing but I have addressed my career through the lense of my current skills and what my aspirations are.

1. I have gone back over myself and what skill set i posess. Where it comes from (work, study, social). I still found a lesser achievement in social. As well as that I found that what I looked for from my career was a stable high wage job (theyre hard to come by the way, ive got my work cut out), satisfaction, sense of belonging (at a company level and in my team), oppurtinities abroad et.

2. I've broadened my repertoire of knowledge of commercial awareness by picking up the Financial Times and on occasion The Economist because I find them to be different views on similair topics but they allow me to see things better and so I know another perspective

3. Also as i said in 1 I found my achievement in social was somewhat lacking still. I went to netwrok with Bloomberg employees at the SU atrium about 2 days and found it very beneficial. It gave me an insight to culture of company and skills they look for; basically working on what I was bad at.

In terms of impprovement for 3. I intend to continue attending more networking sessions thus improving on my attainment of skills through socialising. For 2 Ive basically explained. However, I think come October (hopefully if im still here) I'll subscribe to The Financial TImes who have good offers for Economics students which I can also receive; especially as I will require that knowledge when applying to internships.

Tutor: Siobhan Qadir

: 22 Feb 2012 23:06 |  Tags: P9 Portfolio |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P6 Refelctive Entry

After a week of creating my action plan I can safely say I addressed all three points to some degree.

I havent really had occasion to get angry. I have generally remained passive in most conversations. However, some times I do tend to stop people mid sentence becuase I think theyre going off on some tangent which I should probably prevent myself from doing in order to facilitate coversation. So what I could do better is to be aware of what others are feeling to my behaviour. After all emotional intelligence is about considering all these things and then acting on them.

I used do the second point on the plan before attending the workshop. However, it didnt really revolve around my interactions with other people. More what "I" was doing and how "I" could improve. Thats changed towards a review of particualr incidents and I think it important that I continue to act on this point in my action plan to facilitate a more complete understanding of emortional intellignece by considering the emotions and behaviour of others.

The third point I have actually demonstrated indirectly. A friend with whom I had not met for some time came up to me and proposed we had lunch. During the period we talked on our shotfalls and achievements, life etc. I noticed a distinct lack of concern in him about his self confidence. We went through why and I told him that his on other peoples views on him were wrong, he should be the only one to judge himself etc. So indirectly I was going through the diagram we learnt in workshop. Understand your own emotions inside, how you interact with people, then others emotions and actions. We didnt reallly get to the bit about how we could address all these points. However, hopefully I'll strike up a conversation with one of my friends about the workshop specifically and we can ahve a good chat :D

Tutor: Samantha Tarren

: 15 Feb 2012 18:02 |  Tags: P6 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P9 Reflective Entry

After another week I have found no change in my routine.

I have not done anything to address my action plan. Mostly due to gym. Going to work on that

Tutor: Siobhan Qadir

: 15 Feb 2012 14:57 |  Tags: P9 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P9 Reflective Entry

After a week of blogging my action plan to be totally hounest Ive only addressed 2 of my action plan points.

The second point probably had the strongest response over this past week as I have taken to reading the Student newspaper The Gateway quite rigourously as I find it interesting and informative unlike some broadsheets. It gives student perspective and allows me to think of making an informed decison. It also does increase commercial awareness by telling of recent events and goings on in different sectors and industries.

As to my point about gaining more skills through socialising I have attended a bright network session on assesment centres and the interview process in general. In it we did a lot of team work and other social aspects came through which I felt I learnt from.

With my first point as I have not done anything interms of applications after the workshop I plan to put aside some spare time and think nd reflect on the direction I'm taking why for what reasons etc, How I can benefit from the experiences I have and what I learnt from them. Using the reflective bookmark given out in the wrokshop essentially.

Tutor: Siobhan Qadir

: 08 Feb 2012 16:40 |  Tags: P9 Portfolio |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

P6 Action Plan

Having attended the workshop on emotional intelligence I have come up with my 3 point action plan showing what I have taken out of workshop and how I intend to use the content to work on myself in future

1. My SMART goal, which was for the next one week everytime I felt as though I was heating up to an arguement I would sit down take deep breaths, proceed to lying down if necessary. This shows that I am aware of my own emotions and know that it can be detrimental to others emotions towards me and I'm taking "smart" moves to address that.

2. Whenever I find myself some spare thinking time I'll reflect on any particular emotional points of the day and when I was maybe arrogant of others emotions and my own; think about how else I could have reacted, perhap with less anger in realtion to point 1.

3. If when I'm with my friends I'll talk to them about the workshop and go over things I found about myself, waht they thought of me etc. Maybe even try to convinve them into coming

Tutor: Samantha Tarren

: 08 Feb 2012 14:37 |  Tags: P6 Portfolio |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem