Team Projects

Team projects aren't my favorite part of school. I'm intimidated when I hear that they will be assigned as I know they will require hard work. This is because I have had a lot of bad experiences with team projects, but I have also had a few good experiences with team projects. I know that team projects were designed to a be a good and enjoyable experience, but that doesn't always good. I like team projects because it is easier to get the work done when it is spread across members who can focus on areas that they are good at, instead of one person trying to do everything. This goes hand in hand with something I dislike about team projects. Some members, especially in high school and early college, didn't want to do their part of the work. They figured someone else would do it, so they didn't care. This means that the sharing the workload doesn't happen and one or two people end up doing the bulk of the work. Another thing I like about team projects are they allow for collaboration of ideas and can call on different experiences that members have had. This also brings up something I dislike, which is with so many different ideas it can be hard to make decisions. You have to work together and can't let everyone get their own way, which can be tricky. I like that team projects have become easier with technology. It is much easier to collaborate on things like Google docs without having to email copies back and forth or be in the same room. This technology aspect has helped me put more trust in team members. If I can see what they have been working on and doing there part, I don't worry as much about the final project. The biggest dislike I have for team projects is that I can't make sure everything is perfect. When I my own work, I'm very critical and fix it until it's the best it can be. This is very hard to do in a group because you don't want to the members to think you don't like what they did, but at the same time I want a good grade. It can be a very tricky situation for a perfectionist like me. The best experiences I have had is when there are a couple perfectionists in the group and we all critiqued each other, which made for a better team and better result. Both a like and dislike of team projects are the mix of personalities and hidden agendas in the group, it can make a big difference on either it will be successful or not.

Public Speaking

Public speaking is very daunting to me. It is one of the things that I truly fear. I have done well in school and usually enjoyed my school work, but speaking in front of the class were my worst days. It is very scary to me and worry immensely about it being horrible. I have always been a very quiet person and uncomfortable in big groups of people. I would much prefer to sit quietly and take in all the conversation than take myself. Not wanting to talk and voice my own feelings in front of people is what makes public speaking so hard. I don't feel confident in myself, which makes it even harder. I don't even like to raise my hand in class to answer a question, even though I usually know the answer. I'm so afraid that it could possibly be the wrong answer that I don't offer it up. The only way I speak in class is if I'm specifically asked. It's not a problem of knowing the material, instead it's that I'm scared it will could be wrong. I don't like to ask questions either because I'm afraid of how it will make me look. I have had done a little better in college as presentations have been at the end of semester, so I can tell myself that if I mess up I probably won't see the other students again. I have tried to not worry so much about the public speaking and focus on the content of the speech, but I still struggle with it. I get myself so upset that I end up talking fast and mumbling over my words. That is just adds to my dislike of speaking in front of people. I have often stumbled over my words making me sound like I have problems speaking. I find the most challenge when I don't have a presentation behind me. The presentation or visual aide gets some of the focus off of me, which makes me a little more comfortable. It also easier if there are other people up there giving a presentation at the same time. Overall, the whole public speaking situation is definitely something that I don't like and I only do it when it is absolutely necessary. 

Writing

Describe how you feel about writing (of any sort). Is it difficult for you? How so? Or does it come easy? Do you enjoy it? Dislike it? What’s your favorite type of writing? (fiction, journaling, nonfiction, etc.) Least favorite?

Writing has never been my favorite thing. When I write something, I want to edit it over and over again. It is a little stressful to me that I can't get it to sound right. I won't say that writing was difficult for me. I have always been good at writing in high school and college. However, I don't think writing is easy for me. I write so much better when I have an example or template to follow. This helps me get the basic structure down and then I go back to write the details. When I first start to write, I'm often concerned with a minimum page requirement, but by the end I worry about it being too long. I think writing comes easier once I get started and the ideas are flowing. Sometimes coming up with an idea and supporting details is difficult, but once I have a plan down I don't have difficulties. I don't really enjoy writing, but I don't dislike it either. I would much rather write all day long than talk in front of people. One of my history classes we had to write long essays instead of having multiple choice exams and I felt like I learned so much. I wasn't just memorizing information, but I really understood the topics. That experience is one reason why I like writing because it is an easier way for me to learn and comprehend information. However, I won't write at home for fun. I do enjoy reading in my spare time, but only write for school or work. My favorite type of writing would be nonfiction. The writing assignments that I enjoy the most are research reports or responses about something that actually happened. My least favorite writing is fiction. I'm not a creative person, so I have a hard time forming fictional writing. If I can base the fiction on a event I've experienced or read about, I can write a little better. However, writing something completely fictional with no real life base is my least favorite.

Ineffective Piece of Communication

I wasn't able to participate in the Career Fair this year, but I plan on participating next year with the new resume.
I have came across many effective pieces of business communication, but it's the ineffective pieces of business communication that really stick out in my mind. I received a note this week regarding the details of an upcoming meeting that was very ineffective. At first glance, the main graphic was very pixely like it had been stretched too large and the sides of the graphic were cut off to fit in the spot. I think that this looks sloppy and not representative of the company. Once I got to the actual text, the grammar was very distracting. There were no apostrophes were they were needed and no commas to break up the long run-on sentences. The tense changed from first person to third person in this one paragraph note. There were many other sentence structure problems and grammar rules that were ignored. I'm not a grammar expert, but these issues were glaring out. It read almost like a text message typed while you were running out the door, instead of a important notice that was sent to 100 people. The main point of the meeting was so hidden in the text that it could have been easily missed. If more time had been spent writing and editing this message, it would be more appealing and effective to the readers.

Five Year Plan

My "Five Year Plan" has been evolving in my head and it's been hard trying to figure out how I want to go about my life. The next two years I plan to continue working on my Bachelor of Business Administration in Accountancy. I would like to complete 150 credits, so that I will be eligible to sit for the CPA exam in Michigan once I have completed the other requirements. As I work towards my degree, I will be taking the opportunity to live at home to save money as I pay for my college without any student loans. Next summer, I would like to obtain an internship at an accounting firm to help build my resume for when I graduate the following year. While in school, I would also like to take the opportunity to be involved in a student organization to help me network with fellow business students that could potentially help me in my career. I'm working very hard to get the best learning experience and would like to graduate with honors. If I don't have a job lined up when I graduate, I will spend the time finding a good job that fits in with my goals. By the end of the five years, I hope to be working at an accounting firm obtaining lots of valuable experience that will help me pass the CPA exam as I continue building my career.