There are a number of things I learned about myself from COMM299. The 2 main things I learned is that I still have a lot of room for improvement in the areas of networking and, setting up informational interviews, and approaching employers. Like many students, I am constantly worried about nervousness and confidence when it comes to approaching employers. Through COMM 299, I’ve learned how to approach these fears and overcome my nervousness with confidence through practice and understanding the general scope and themes to speak to employers about. The direction given by the COMM 299 TAs and instructors were very helpful in directing me to the right areas to focus on. The general templates from the Sauder Career Success Cycle also aided me in specifying my approaches to my desired careers.
Month: March 2011
The greatest lesson I learned so far is actually from a book titled, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, written by Robert Kiyosaki.
In summary, the book stresses the ownership of high value assets, rather than being an employee as a recurring theme throughout the book’s chapters. This book played a big role during my decision to switch from Engineering to Commerce and gave me a different outlook on my career and approach to employment. Some of the highlights I learned from Robert include: an unconventional attitude toward money, the value of financial intelligence, and that corporations spend first, then pay taxes, while individuals must pay taxes first.
The biggest takeaway I took from this book was that having a degree will not guarantee any success. In fact, you may get stuck in the rat race based on the tunnel vision that you have created from doing a technical/specialized degree. This is the reason why Robert’s “rich dad”, who became very wealthy and successful without a college degree, had the right networking skills and financial intelligence to succumb to his shortcomings in education to succeed and enjoy life. On the other hand, Robert’s “poor dad”, who has a phd degree, is always on the edge to paying out his bills – being stuck in his own rat race that he’s created from limiting himself in his own specialized field without any desire for financial growth due to the constraints of the rat race.
In the end, these lessons allowed my current understanding and outlook on career and life to evolve. As a result, I can say that my personality have changed dramatically from my engineering days and that these lessons have expanded my views in the areas of finance, entrepreneurship, and personal wealth.