RMIT Diary

I’m writing this entry from the Mac Lab. This is the 4th night that I stay at school for assignments. I finally found a way to help me concentrate on the studying. It feels good to push myself to the edge. I’m a true procrastinator who find it really hard to work in a regular, low-pressure environment. If I were at home at the moment, perhaps I would be wandering around Facebook and does not review anything from the main course material.

Well, I have about 12 days until the first exam, the OB one. That’s enough for all the necessary revision. I would need to get this level of concentration until I finish with the semester (all the exams), or I will need to stay at school for the upcoming days if I want to stay focused.

It was such a shame that I missed so many WDT classes this semester. Though it is my favorite course of the semester, I failed to attend many lectures as I could not wake up in the morning after sleepless nights. I spent a lot of time to work on club’s activities, of which I am an organizer. I spent time on personal research projects and reading for OB.

Part A: 5 multiple choice questions for 2 marks each

Part B: Programming (coding) questions about ANY of the following topics

1. Basic C
2. Pointer
3. Functions in C
4. Arrays and Pointers
5. String handling in C
6. Storage classes
7. Structures
8. Dynamic memory
9. Linked list

• http://www.agavegroup.com/?p=35
• http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/08/13/top-10-css-table-designs/
• http://www.pluralsight-training.net/community/blogs/fritz/archive/2006/03/22/20514.aspx (Delete confirmation)

Refection on Values

Some of the common mistakes that reduce effectiveness in inter-personal communications:

• Lack of trust: people communicate without believing what the other person is saying, or even what they are saying themselves.
• Unclear identity: people hide their identity and thus reduce trust from the other person.
• One-way relationship: one party try to persuade the other without providing any values in return.
• Lack of understanding: people are not aware of the different perspective and behaviors patterns that they are holding. For example: introverted people may find extroverted ones “noisy”; extroverted people consider introverted ones “hard to talk”.
• Knowledge gap: the listener doesn’t have sufficient knowledge to get the message.
• Trying to avoiding conflicts rather than resolving them.

This is not except from a book. It came from my own experience in team work. According to my observation, a meeting can be enhanced by applying the following tips.

• Attendee’s availability is confirmed before the invitation is sent. Make sure that VIPs are available for the meeting.
• Agenda is sent in advance.
• Invitation is sent both via Calendar and regular email.
• A secretary is ready on the day. The host (organizer) should concentrate on the content of the meeting rather than on recording it.
• Stick to the agenda. Items not included in the agenda should be left til the end of the meeting, if there is extra time.
• When a discussion gets stuck, move on to the next item. Discuss after the meeting.
• For items that may take lots of time, the host should talk to people before the meeting so that they think about it in advance and the host gets an overview of possible opinions.
• Virtual meeting is a good idea, yet it comes at the cost of training. Think ROI!
• Offline notification, such as SMS, or phone call.

At Business Club, most of the above ideas were applied quite well which results in efficient meetings. There are always point for improvement of course.

Today, I (almost) lost my cell phone. It slipped out of my pocket in the middle of the “We’ve got talent” auditing session. I was very worried noticing that it was nowhere to be found when the show ended. I don’t want a new phone (yet), especially as it was holding over 600 valuable contacts.

Perhaps, I should call that luck because the phone was found finally. More importantly, while searching for the phone, I found some important notes that otherwise could have been forgotten at the bottom of my backpack.

On one piece of paper were the notes that I took during a conference about “the 7 habits”. They are some of my life-long goals and objectives, in written form.

I found my mission statement:

To make positive impacts on people’s lives personally and professionally by becoming a great inspirer.

Also on that piece of paper, I defined the man who I want to be:

• A friend – the one to rely on.
• An excellent student of the B.IT program, never stop learning.
• A good team leader who help his fellows on the path of finding themselves.
• A supportive follower.
• An efficient software architecture.
• A great son who make my parents can be proud of.
• A caring friend.

I wrote about things that count in my life:

• Friendship
• Family
• Challenge
• Innovation

I defined success as

• Being a man of my words (integrity)
• Empowering the heart (inspire)
• Holding excellent communicational skills

I thought about how to get there

• Learn to listen
• First things first
• Focus my energy into the circle of influence

I found my way; and now…

Just do it!

I strongly believe that self-leadership is the most important ingredient of success. Without the ability to bring about the positive changes in our own lives, there is no way that we can do so to others.

[To be continued]

“Em có bao giờ có cảm giác như cả thế giới này đang bỏ rơi em một mình ở phía sau, có cảm giác khi nhìn mỗi góc của căn phòng em đang ngồi đều thấy như không gian đang thu hẹp lại, bị thuyết phục rằng y phục của em đã cũ đi rất nhiều sau một đêm, rằng hình bóng của em hiện lên trên mỗi tấm gương giống như một vai diễn tội nghiệp vì không có khán giả, mà tất cả những thứ đó đều không mang lại được chút cảm giác yên ổn nào, khi nghĩ rằng em chẳng yêu ai mà cũng chẳng có ai yêu em, rằng tất cả những thứ chẳng là gì đó chỉ là sự trống rỗng trong cuộc sống của chính em không?