Sunday, November 9, 2008

Life without Limbs - Nick Vujicic

I was able to meet this gentleman, Nick Vujicic in Singapore Expo yesterday. He (born December 4, 1982) is a motivational speaker and the director for Life Without Limbs, an organization that is for the physically disabled.

more on
http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/


Blog Post #7 - Final Reflection

I just cannot believe that we have finally come to the end of this semester. A 3000-point bidden module that I find it is worthwhile since I see myself improving from it despite the heavy workload from this module.

I would like to express my greatest gratitude towards Brad and everyone in the class, especially my project teammates Liang Fu, Kheng Aik and Joyce. I have never ever stayed for an academic project meeting that last me till 11pm in my entire course of my study, that was my first time staying so late for an academic project meeting and yet it was fun and unforgettable.


Thank you to Yuk Lam, Alethea and Kheng Aik for being my interviewers in the mock interview, making me nervous and uneasy.



I have to admit that ES2007S has provided me with a platform to learn to express myself convincingly and professionally in my writing as well as my speech. Additionally, I learnt how to justify an article, a blog or a report based on the 7 Cs principle, namely Courtesy, Correctness, Concreteness, Completeness, Coherence, Conciseness, and Clarity.

The skills builders and exercises in the tutorials have also provided me samples of professional format on resume, cover letter, meeting minutes, meeting agenda and project report which I can use as references in future.

Sky is the limit, this is not the end yet as I believe we still can sharpen our skills based on these basic principles that we learnt from ES2007S.

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Added on 10 November:

By looking back to the first post that I posted and integrating what I have learnt from ES2007S, I learnt how to tactfully minimize/prevent/solve conflicts that arise from misunderstanding based on what I have been taught and practiced in the class.

I will say this is a see-it first principle, is it sounds familiar with the saying, "All people who disagree with me are either ignorant or stupid"?
So one day, Bob disagreed with Mark. Mark initially thought it was a communication problem and tried to convince Bob by repeating slowly and loudly. Then he realized that Bob understood, but still disagreed! So, Mark concluded that Bob was stupid!

Bob, on the other hand, listened, tried to understand where Mark was coming from and actually started to see what he was saying. He still disagreed with Mark but he now had more power to better deal with the situation. He did not conclude that Mark was either ignorant or stupid - just different. This strategy to see-it first made the Bob a much more effective leader.


In case you don’t agree then try to 'see-it first' where the other person (by knowing your audience) is coming from before deciding your next steps.