Happy Teacher's Day !
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Really Think :)
Really thinks, I hope we do that every time we write a blog post :)
(In case you wonder, the photo is taken by me)
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Interpersonal Conflict
The interpersonal conflict that I am going to write about happened just a couple of minutes ago between me and my girlfriend. I was on my way back after a shag day with work piling up waiting for me to do when I get back home. I then decided to call up my girlfriend on the journey back. However, she did not pick up my calls. After a few minutes, she messaged me back to say that she was in the shower and to give her 5 minutes and she will call me back. She indeed call me about 5 minutes later. However, after a few seconds, I heard a commotion over the phone and it turned out that it was her sister trying to talk to her. My girlfriend asked her to go away and returned to the call.My reaction was to tell her that if she have something important, she can go do it first. That had pissed her off and after a short while we hang up the phone.
I was naturally as unhappy as she was but was wondering what had pissed her off and this was not the first time. My rationale was for her to finish up the important stuff first before being able to relax and talk to me undisturbed. My guess was that on her part, she values the calls that we have and I have assumed that there was something more important than the call.
This interpersonal conflict had got me thinking about how effective communication through mediums such as phone can be. I have always valued a face to face talk.
I was naturally as unhappy as she was but was wondering what had pissed her off and this was not the first time. My rationale was for her to finish up the important stuff first before being able to relax and talk to me undisturbed. My guess was that on her part, she values the calls that we have and I have assumed that there was something more important than the call.
This interpersonal conflict had got me thinking about how effective communication through mediums such as phone can be. I have always valued a face to face talk.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Things are Starting to Boil
Blogging was not my habit but I am trying to cultivate the habit now since I know I will have an audience and this could really improve my writing.
About what Mr Blackstone(Is it okay if I address you as such?) said yesterday about things are starting to boil, I really agree with him. School work that is piling,CCA meetings to attend, blog posts to write and comment. Its starting to get real busy. Just yesterday, I did not have a rest time from 830 in the morning all the way till 8pm at night when I was in a taxi rushing for another meeting because I was already late. I wondered how did I even manage to survive through the day. I could have survived on the adrenaline rush or it might just be the cups of coffee that I have drank. Despite all the madness, I really enjoyed the day and I think this could be good training for my future in the working world.
However, amongst all this madness, I really hope that I do not neglect a lot of stuff like my school work, my relationship and my family. At the end of the day, these are the things that matters to me the most. I do not want to have gone through so much and look back realizing I have lost all these things.
That is why I really think its a good idea to reflect frequently and writing blog posts is a good way to start. And since I got another crazy day ahead of me, I am writing this post on the journey to school from Pasir Ris: )
Friday, August 20, 2010
Why Effective Communication Skills are Important for me
Before I continue blogging, I have a confession to make. I am not very good with my language and hence you might find some grammar mistakes.I will try my best to improve my language for your reading pleasure and most importantly myself. Please inform me by commenting and help me in improving my language. Or if you are shy, you can just tell me secretly :)
During my NS days, I was fortunate enough to be posted for admin duties, serving under a high-ranking officer as his personal assistant. I know many would tell me that I had a slacker vocation but I feel that I have learned many more useful skills while serving under admin than those who had to sweat it out firing the big guns. The most important lesson I learn was the importance of effective communication.
As a personal assistant, my job was to assist the commander in his daily works but most importantly, ensuring that his messages were passed down correctly to the ground. At the start, I was unsure of how to carry out my duties. The other higher ranking officers in the camp looks daunting and I was hesitant in approaching them to get things done. This resulted in low efficiency in my job and it was largely due to the fact that I was not proficient in many communication skills.It was then that I learn the importance of effective communication skills in a working such as mine.
I began to observe how those who are able to get the job done more effectively and I realized that many of them talk to different people in different ways. Even if they are the same kind of message that needs to be passed down, the way in which the message is put across is different for it to be more effective.
For example, if I would to ask a Sergent to get things done, I would just Email him formally and tell him exactly what needs to be done. He would get the message that the task is important and he will need to to get it done well. However, if I would to approach a high ranking officer, I would be a bit more friendly and suggest to him that if he would have done things in a certain way, it would have better effects and it would look better on him. He would feel good about himself and be more willing to do what he is told to do.
Employing different channels of communication, I manage to effectively communicate with the other parties whom I need to get the job done. I believe that this also applies to my everyday life. The different channels of communication will also need different set of communication skills to be effective and hence these effective communication skills are important for me.
During my NS days, I was fortunate enough to be posted for admin duties, serving under a high-ranking officer as his personal assistant. I know many would tell me that I had a slacker vocation but I feel that I have learned many more useful skills while serving under admin than those who had to sweat it out firing the big guns. The most important lesson I learn was the importance of effective communication.
As a personal assistant, my job was to assist the commander in his daily works but most importantly, ensuring that his messages were passed down correctly to the ground. At the start, I was unsure of how to carry out my duties. The other higher ranking officers in the camp looks daunting and I was hesitant in approaching them to get things done. This resulted in low efficiency in my job and it was largely due to the fact that I was not proficient in many communication skills.It was then that I learn the importance of effective communication skills in a working such as mine.
I began to observe how those who are able to get the job done more effectively and I realized that many of them talk to different people in different ways. Even if they are the same kind of message that needs to be passed down, the way in which the message is put across is different for it to be more effective.
For example, if I would to ask a Sergent to get things done, I would just Email him formally and tell him exactly what needs to be done. He would get the message that the task is important and he will need to to get it done well. However, if I would to approach a high ranking officer, I would be a bit more friendly and suggest to him that if he would have done things in a certain way, it would have better effects and it would look better on him. He would feel good about himself and be more willing to do what he is told to do.
Employing different channels of communication, I manage to effectively communicate with the other parties whom I need to get the job done. I believe that this also applies to my everyday life. The different channels of communication will also need different set of communication skills to be effective and hence these effective communication skills are important for me.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
My First Post
Hi all,
This is my first post made after class. I don't have much to talk about at this moment but I am just going to remind everyone about the things that need to be done(which will act as a reminder for myself as well) :
1) Set up your Blog.
2) Make your first post on why Communication Skills is important to us.
3) Go comment on the lecturer's posts on his blog.
4) Lastly take note that the venue for next week's lesson and forevermore have been changed to
S9A-01-03.
That is all for now. Got to go think about the stuff I want to write for my first post. See ya :)
This is my first post made after class. I don't have much to talk about at this moment but I am just going to remind everyone about the things that need to be done(which will act as a reminder for myself as well) :
1) Set up your Blog.
2) Make your first post on why Communication Skills is important to us.
3) Go comment on the lecturer's posts on his blog.
4) Lastly take note that the venue for next week's lesson and forevermore have been changed to
S9A-01-03.
That is all for now. Got to go think about the stuff I want to write for my first post. See ya :)
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