Month: December 2015

[JUST ANOTHER SHALLOW NOTE] The Power of Networking

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Actually, it depends.

For some people, who tend to isolate themselves from the outside world and just want to hide in their own shells. Then networking is of no use.

But for ones like me, who have been confused finding the aim of life, who tend to think too much about other’s opinions. Networking absolutely should be taken into profound consideration.

My story dated back to the time when I was in high school. I was a shy girl. I had never felt like joining in any extra curriculum activities or making new friends. Studying for university was solely my activity throughout those school years. The problem was that I didn’t think much and also my parents didn’t do much about it. Strangely they had the same opinion as mine: Studying should be the one and only thing in a high school student’s mind.

Then I made it to my dream university, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam. Everything about it changed completely who I was. It was like a whole new world. There were so many new faces and new friends. Especially, they all seemed extremely dynamic.

I realized that I had to fit in.

I signed up for clubs, volunteering projects and met brilliant individuals in every field. At the time, I didn’t know much about networking and just had a simple thought of developing myself through those activities.

Time went by and I gradually realized how I was feeling home when being at school, as surrounded me were mostly my peers, my “sisters” and “brothers”. They always smiled at me when I walked by or gave me a warm hug. We had a good time together hanging out as members of the same club, as companions. We helped each other out, together we dealt with various struggles from study things to private life. I realized I had learnt so much from them. I was powered up.

Now, even when it comes to connections outside the university, networking is powerful. I could easily call a friend for help in any job. They will be there and give me a hand.

And what I love the most is that having many friends also gives me the chance to see clearly my identity. My knowledge has been broadened thanks to critical views of various people I know.

I have gained and grown up.

To wrap up, networking is much more than making friends and getting the help. It would energize you and bring to you plenty of amazing experiences.

Let’s open our hearts and let people in. You’ll see magic

 

How an exam can ruin an entire day!

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Let’s start with today’s morning.

It was the last class of my French course at L’espace 24 Trang Tien. Everything about that class was great. I received the finals’ scores, knowing that I passed it to the higher level course. Then I signed up as well as payed fee for the next course. At the end, my classmates and I went to a nearby coffee shop and had a little chitchat instead of a farewell party. We exchanged ideas, talked about everything we could think of. Thanks to that, we got to know more about each other. Sadly, we no longer studied in the same class.

I got home at noon, had lunch. And I decided to relax myself with some karaoke songs on Smule app instead of doing mid-term essay. Things were still going on well.

But not until in the evening, when I took the final exam of the Consecutive Interpreting Course. I fucked up everything. My interpreting speeches were messy. I could not remember a single thing. All the vocabularies in my head just disappeared for no reason. I mean, there was a reason for that – Nervousness. I could have done better.

This failure made me uncomfortable. My classmates did very well in the exam. And I have to face that fact that I might not pass it to get the certificate.

Face it! Everybody fails sometimes. The importance is what you could learn from that and not repeat the same mistake. Try harder!

I will try harder, study harder, practice more!

Believe me and you’ll see…

Building My Writing Muscles

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Recently I have watched and read plenty of things about psychology, especially about human mindset. The way we think about ourselves determines our action, and our action determines our success in life.

It is the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. People with fixed mindset bear in mind the thought that their abilities are locked in place. So these people often back down when facing something “out of reach” to them. But for ones with a growth mindset, a challenge is an opportunity to learn and grow. They think their abilities can improve through practices. In fact, this is true. Science supports people with a growth mindset, as it has been proved that our nerves do get stronger after regular practicing and exercises.

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” – Lou Holtz

This theory did touch my nerves. I need to have a growth mindset for sure. Therefore, even when luck does not smile at me, science will support me.

I started thinking about what I was afraid of all the time, what I seemed “out of reach”.

WRITING!

Yes, writing has always been my sworn enemy. Especially writing in English. I am pure Vietnamese. I speak Vietnamese, write Vietnamese. I even had troubles when it came to writing in my mother language. So writing something in other language was a nightmare. It took me hours to finish a 250-word essay. At school, my scores for English writing skill were the worst.

After having detected my sworn enemy, I decided to make friends with it. From now on, I will not avoid it any longer and change my attitude. The relationship between writing and me will get stronger over time. Like muscles, I hope my writing ability could be improved through practicing.

Now I am forming my writing muscles. I am trying to write more, in Vietnamese and English (and hopefully French in the future). Though my writing would maybe sound stupid or naive, I will write about random things, anything I run into during my life journey. This blog is going to be a place for me to do it.

At the end of the day, future is future. I don’t know if any of above things would take effect. I don’t know eventually what I will become or how good I will be. But let’s just live for today, better myself and grow!

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P/S: Hoping that some native English speakers could read this and point out my mistakes or comment on the way I write. I would really appreciate!