Over the last two years, I feel like I spent half of this blog
talking about how excited I am for the b-school experience and then the
other half talking about how I'm sad it's almost over!
It's
true that the experience just whizzes by. Even now, I can't believe
that next week is our last week of classes! This term, I took a pretty
light load of classes so I only had class on one day a week. The other
four days, I spent time doing work for my internships, going to my
workout class, and traveling. I got to see H a lot this past month which
has been a lot of fun and gets me even more excited about moving home
after school.
That being said, I still don't know
when/where I'll be working for my first rotation for work. One thing
that I've really learned over the years is that I'm bad at waiting. I'm a
naturally anxious person who loves to plan things out, so having
uncertainty about my future (outside the realm of my control) is the
ultimate test of patience and will. Hopefully I'll find out soon, but
until then, I can just pray for a good outcome and enjoy the present
moment.
I have less than a month left in NYC. I'm sad
this chapter of my life is coming to an end, but the next chapter is
going to be amazing that I'm antsy to get to it. Moving home, starting
my job, getting married... it's going to be a fun ride :)
Love,
V
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Friday, April 5, 2013
Reflective
Last night I had a nice heart-to-heart with one of my school friends reflecting back on our MBA experience and about what we feel like we got out of the experience. We both agreed that while we learned some technical things in classes, the biggest lessons we learned from the experience were about soft skills and personal development.
The big thing that we hear over and over is that you cannot effectively manage others until you have an understanding of yourself. I really feel like the last two years I've developed a deeper sense of self-awareness and been able to change myself for the better with this new insight. I've realized that I have the ability to innately read the emotions of others, and the ability to take on other perspectives. This has helped me be a caring, trusted colleague/friend and is the root of my agreeable nature. I've also learned that, while I might feel insecure about how I present myself, others perceive me to be more competent, capable and even a little bit competitive than I realize. When I read that report and feedback, I was actually quick shocked because I never thought of myself as competitive!
As I continue in my development and enter the next phase of my career, I really want to work on speaking up. I've been given feedback from so many people that I need to take more ownership of my ideas in meetings (instead of quietly circulating them around afterwards). I'm not really sure where that insecurity stems from, but I need to work on my "blirtatiousness" and learn to just commit to 10-seconds of bravery and share my idea when it comes to me. I inherently edit the things I say, especially in professional settings, but I feel that learning to be more bold in meetings could really take me to the next level.
So here's to looking deeper inside and being okay with what we find!
Cheers,
Vi
The big thing that we hear over and over is that you cannot effectively manage others until you have an understanding of yourself. I really feel like the last two years I've developed a deeper sense of self-awareness and been able to change myself for the better with this new insight. I've realized that I have the ability to innately read the emotions of others, and the ability to take on other perspectives. This has helped me be a caring, trusted colleague/friend and is the root of my agreeable nature. I've also learned that, while I might feel insecure about how I present myself, others perceive me to be more competent, capable and even a little bit competitive than I realize. When I read that report and feedback, I was actually quick shocked because I never thought of myself as competitive!
As I continue in my development and enter the next phase of my career, I really want to work on speaking up. I've been given feedback from so many people that I need to take more ownership of my ideas in meetings (instead of quietly circulating them around afterwards). I'm not really sure where that insecurity stems from, but I need to work on my "blirtatiousness" and learn to just commit to 10-seconds of bravery and share my idea when it comes to me. I inherently edit the things I say, especially in professional settings, but I feel that learning to be more bold in meetings could really take me to the next level.
So here's to looking deeper inside and being okay with what we find!
Cheers,
Vi
Monday, March 11, 2013
Being a Grown Up
Coming to business school, I've been able to make a lot of friends who are older than myself. Not significantly older, but people who have 5-8 years more experience than I do. I think what's been surprising to me is how similiar they are to myself - share in the same wonders, fears, worries. I've always imagined that by a certain age, I would suddenly have clarity on life and with this new wisdom, I would be able to smartly navigate the world I so clearly understood. Through this experience, I guess I'm learning that this is not the care. Life will always be a bit hazy, people will never mature completely, and there will always be a bit of confusion in growing up.
I'm learning to become okay with that and in a weird way, it's kind of liberating. I had always felt like I was waiting for some kind of epiphany, but it looks like it doesn't work that way. Life is just a continual series of lessons and learnings, there is no magical "corner" that you turn around.
BTW I totally think "learnings" is a word even though I get spell-checked every time with that word.
LEARNINGS!!!
I'm learning to become okay with that and in a weird way, it's kind of liberating. I had always felt like I was waiting for some kind of epiphany, but it looks like it doesn't work that way. Life is just a continual series of lessons and learnings, there is no magical "corner" that you turn around.
BTW I totally think "learnings" is a word even though I get spell-checked every time with that word.
LEARNINGS!!!
Thursday, February 14, 2013
NYC Bucket List
Cloisters - REMOVEWave Hill- REMOVEConey Island- REMOVE- Flushing for Chinese food
- Gramercy Tavern
- ABC Kitchen
Lincoln Center performance- Go on an inside tour of a luxury brand
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Ash Wednesday
I feel like it was only a few months ago that I was writing my first posts on this blog about how excited I was to go to business school and now, I'm almost done. The next few months are going to be lots of fun (with trips to Florida, Japan and Puerto Rico) and bittersweet excitement as my MBA experience comes to an end. I have mixed feelings about graduation - part of me is sad that I'm already done with grad school and the other (slightly larger) part can't wait to move onto the next phase of my life.
This semester, my goal is to focus on experiencing as much of b-school and NYC as I can. Sometimes I feel like I can get wrapped up in obsessing over the "it" pair of shoes or handbag that I simple *must* own. As we head into the Lenten season in my final semester, I'm trying to recenter myself to focus on making memories and the positive side of things - my relationships, experiences and life changes. I need to learn to accept what I cannot control and to appreciate the blessings that I have in my life. You only live once, so you need to make each moment count and love the gifts you have.
This semester, my goal is to focus on experiencing as much of b-school and NYC as I can. Sometimes I feel like I can get wrapped up in obsessing over the "it" pair of shoes or handbag that I simple *must* own. As we head into the Lenten season in my final semester, I'm trying to recenter myself to focus on making memories and the positive side of things - my relationships, experiences and life changes. I need to learn to accept what I cannot control and to appreciate the blessings that I have in my life. You only live once, so you need to make each moment count and love the gifts you have.
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