SELF IMPROVEMENT AND MOTIVATION

No matter what you major in at university, there will always be lessons that can only be learned in the School of Life. In an increasingly competitive job market, companies are looking for graduates who have learned not only from their textbooks, but from the world around them. If you practice these ten crucial life skills while you’re still in school, you’ll be well-prepared for the world outside of college. 1) How To Network With Purpose Networking can get a bad rap: the idea of connecting with others for the express purpose of using them in the future is, admittedly, a bleak way of seeing your friendships. It’s also the wrong way to see networking! Building a network doesn’t just mean forming relationships that will serve you professionally. Networking is about finding your tribe -- people who inspire and challenge you -- and forming mutually-beneficial relationships with others. Teach yourself:  Try one-on-one networking with older students, professors, and others in your...

Adjusting to the corporate world was a challenge in more than one way for me. Some months into my corporate experience, I realized that although I was performing well, I needed to work on what were describe to me as “soft skills.” The behaviors employers expect of you will vary from company to company, but here are a few things to think about when you’re interacting with others at the workplace. Many of these are common sense, but sometimes they are things we tend to take for granted. Respect for other people’s time Although, as a new associate, (and otherwise) you may be encouraged to ask questions, think twice before you barrel into someone else’s work space. Usually people will appreciate being asked if they have a moment, (or however much time you anticipate it taking) to answer your question(s). This gives them the flexibility to plan the rest of their work around you. Try, whenever possible, to have an opinion on what the right answer is. Doing this shows thos...

As I make my way into my last semester as an undergraduate (back in 1997), I can’t help but panic over the uncertainty in the job market and economy. Reflecting on the last four years, I also can’t help but wonder if I took full advantage of my college education to adequately prepare myself for the real world. Malaysia and Asia was in Crisis? What do I do? Where do I go now? As a Business Administration major, I complained about taking general education courses in math and science as an underclassman. I avoided all business-related classes and cringed at the thought of lab work, yet becoming well-rounded is a necessary quality in the real world. Adjusting to college is a huge step, and I understand that it may be difficult to see things in the long run or visualize the bigger picture, but take my advice and try to branch out of your comfort zone to expand your skills. For instance, I wish I had taken the initiative to enroll in a basic personal finance course, ...

“Thinking is easy. Acting is difficult. To put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.”  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Although it has been nearly 30 years since Mark H. McCormack wrote his classic book “What They Don’t Teach You at the Harvard Business School” (1989) I am still thinking about it. At first it was the title that caught my eye. One must be quite bold to criticize a Harvard University education like that.  But from the moment I started reading that book I realized McCormack was not criticizing Harvard University. Rather, he was writing about the limitations of learning only from the classroom. His whole point is that there are just some things you can’t learn from books or even from formal curriculum in an educational institution.  To be successful in life, there are life skills that must be mastered. He speaks of the need to be able to read people. He actually said, “I have often said that I can tell more about how someon...