Reflective Essay Week 1
For this week we needed to prepare a reflection essay of approximately five hundred to seven hundred and fifty words where we write about the things we learned during the last couple weeks. I will divide this assignment into different paragraphs, where i will explain my thoughts and the things i have learned during these lectures. I will go a little bit more in-depth on the kick off week just because it made a really good impression on me.
I began my study with the kick off week, were i was able to familiarise with my fellow students and the study program. As i warmed up to my peers, i was able to dive in and create some out of the box projects. Everyday we were able to hear from different guest speakers who explained to us how they are expanding their current business space and how business affects them as a person. What I found the most interesting during this week was how powerful teamwork is and what you can achieve with it. Everybody needed to write down an amazement or irritation and hang them on the wall. Everybody got the opportunity to sign the ones that appealed to them the most and the best were placed on the table where people were able to choose their favourites. At that point, the groups were created and the assignment they gave us was solve your problem. I chose the problem/amazement everybody loves food this was not a problem but an amazement. We discussed inside the group how we where going to solve this amazement and we came to the conclusion that we cant. So we decided to turn the subject around into a problem, People that are not able to eat together. As a group, we came up with the idea to create an app where people could combine their agendas so they were able to eat together one day a week. This made me realise that with brainstorming and team work you can create something from scratch.
Last week we began a Personal Skills Development class where we were able to reflect on our thought processes. I often find it hard to write down my thoughts on paper, but isn't that normal? To be honest, I don't see myself as a very talkative person but I found that this opened my eyes to something new. Even if we don't want to do something it doesn't mean we can't learn from it. I'm really looking forward to be a better ''Weblogger'' and to get used to the concept of blog posting. The HTML of last week was very educative and challenging and I'm really looking forward to learn more a bout HTML and building a website. The Fundamentals of business and the international world of business gave me a good look what the course is expecting from you. The first week really motivated me to do good during the course and I'm looking forward to the projects we are gonna get in the future.
Reflective Essay Week 2
Last week I got familiar with writing a reflective essay on my progress during the last couple of weeks. It has given me a good view on what I have to focus on and what i want to achieve in the next couple of weeks. As i continued to progress, I now understand what steps I need to take in order to achieve my final goal. This week we were asked to write another reflective essay on the new insights we have. The focus in this week class was really to find your own strengths and weaknesses, we did this by doing some test and class discussions. I found this class very interesting cause it teaches us about different learning processes and about our brain.
The test we needed to do was the Myers Briggs.The questions asked gave me a brighter insight on my own personality and what kind of person I am in general. My results were ENTP-A which means that i am a debater. This test really gave me a good view on where my strengths and weaknesses are. I thought this was very usefully because it also pointed out my career paths and workspace habits, which i think can be very valuable in the future. Further more i have to say that for the most part I agreed with the test results, however there were some results I did not agree with.
What i also found really interesting was that after we all did the test, we needed to form groups with the people that had the same results and share our ideas and thoughts about the outcome. This really showed me that even when you have the same outcome it doesn’t mean they have the same mentality or personality although we had some things in common. I would have liked to see the different personality results grouped up so that we could learn more about the different personalities within the class. This test and overview on personality types has been very beneficial for me because it made me more aware of how to utilise my strengths and weaknesses.
The other test we had was the VAK test. This test was all about the different types of learning there are. I came to the realisation that I learn best when I can communicate information in a practical and visual way. For example, last year when I was learning economics I found it more effective for me to watch videos instead of reading books so that I could create a visual connection to with the subject.
During this week i have learned a lot about my personality and the way i like to learn. Writing essays is not really something i like or am good at but by doing this i feel like i am progressing in couple of ways
I would probably never going to like writing essays but i do see the use of it and doing it on a routine basis.
Reflective Essay Week 3
The subject of this week was all about who you are. During this class we learned a lot about the golden circle. The circle made me more capable to define myself and this made it easier to complete my masterplan with the questions given why, how and what. This helped me to get a bigger picture.
Why? My main motivation that i want to accomplish is to start business that helps people as well is good for our environment or improves it. The test of the previous week showed me what my strengths and weaknesses and because of the test it was easier for me to answer this question
What i have noticed during this reflection is that "how" is really difficult to answer because these days it's really hard to be successful cause money is such a important source compared to the past. If i wanna be able to achieve my goal i need to come up with a solid plan and a sustainable money flow. The best way to do it is first to get some business experience in another company and save a some money during this learning progress, this way i gain a lot of knowledge and experience and have a decent amount of money to start my own company. The reason why i think this approach is the best is that by doing this you also build up a network which while be very useful in the future.
To be able to achieve all of this it's important for me to maximise my potential on school and try to learn as much as possible by passing all of my assignments which hopefully result in getting my International Business and Innovation degree.
In my opinion answering "what" is kind of similar to why but it bends more to your personal side instead of your motivation. To answer "what" i need to look at my talents and my personality, this made me to come to the conclusion that I'm a generous and hard working person this comes a long with the "why". What is it that i want and can do, i think that i need to answer this question, I haven't found a good answer for this so i'll answer this in a later essay.
What really made an impression on me was that at the beginning of the class we had to share our essays with each other. The thing that i like about hearing this essays is that the give you a different perspective of a person, cause they share there difficulties with certain things which can be very useful for me as well and sometimes it correlate with my essay. What interest me the most out of the stories is that what they have learned from it and have a good impression about the person it self.
I really feel i'm making progress in expressing myself on paper cause my previous essays i was really struggling reaching the word cap but this essay went pretty fluently and easy, i do think i need to do i couple more time to be really comfortable with it but i'll get there.
Reflective Essay Week 4
In fact my life so far has been very steady and stable, with some downfalls, but not very spectacular. I grew up alone, having 2 sisters and one brother who were already at least 20 years older and having their own families. I finished basic school without problems and went to the secondary school, where i behaved rather nonchalant and uninterested, although my skills where sufficient to finish the year without problems. However my behaviour lead to it that I had to double a class. This opened my eyes for the first time because i never expected this. I learned my first lesson: focus. I followed several stage periods at some different companies and learned in practice how to use my skills in different situations: how to approach companies/people to get to my goal. In my private time I met a girl and from the beginning I fell in love with her. However she used me and this was a role i never had before. I always thought that i could control any situation. anyhow we broke and during at least 6 months i was very sad about it. Another lesson for me. I had several jobs, the last one at a company that worked under the concept store (shop in shop)project. I was one of their best sellers but they failed to stimulate me and in fact, although they had many parties which i enjoyed very much, i felt lost and alone. than i had to decide which next study i would like to follow and my first choice was IBMS at the HVA Amsterdam. However I was not selected, which meant that InHolland/IBIS became my priority. Afterwards I am happy to chose this school because I like the teachers and students and the way of studying very much, especially when I hear stories from others at HVA. This is in short my life story.
This story tells me that life is not so easy. Although you are young you face enough problems which you have to overcome, but it makes realise how to improve and how to get stronger to face the future.
I included some experiences to show how in fact little things can affect your life every day without having any influence on it.
From the experiences I had, I feel stronger and although not every day, I know that I can reach the goals I have in mind for the future.
The most important lesson so far is that i have to keep focussed on my weak points, which are mainly to get organised, plan my daily life better and being interested in others as well.
Last but not least: live by the day and be happy.
Resuming the above I want to improve my weak points and to develop my skills here at IBIS where i really feel at home.