Why curiosity and mentorship will change your life | Bogdan Gogu | TEDxAUBG

A topic that I neglected to write about before is mentorship without a doubt.  Making a decision about what you are going to do for the rest of your life at a young age can be quite daunting. Therefore, having  a mentor beside you who can properly guide and instruct you is essential not to make the same mistakes they did themselves at your age. In the following post, I will be addressing this issue to the best of my ability and expand on it with the aid of some facts and examples.

God or the universe if you will has endowed us with the natural ability to do something out of the ordinary. So long as we do not discover what that is however, we will not be able to capitalize on it.

It is the role of the parents and the education system to provide ways for children to be able to realize what they are good at. Unfortunately nonetheless, the aforesaid role is not executed correctly. Thus, keeping youngsters from uncovering their talents. That is where a mentor can play a highly significant part in solving this problem. Case in point, by exposing children to mentorship programs according to their preferences, we would be expediting the process of them finding a career choice. No matter what type of profession they might be interested in (all the way from medicine to portrait painting), there is always room for growth and improvement in every single occupation out there.

 

Having an inquisitive mind must also be taken into account when it comes to mentoring. Seeking answers for as may questions we can ask ourselves is key. We might struggle looking for the right person to answer them. Still and all, it will be worth it in the end. You see, the beauty of looking for a mentor is that they are not always going to be easy to encounter. Be that as it may, once we come into contact with them, we will appreciate their assistance even more. It could happen at the workplace, at university, or whatnot. The important thing is that this person is going to inspire and keep you motivated so as to be able to reach your end goal. You could even be at your breaking point and this character is going to lift you up and give you a boost to carry on. In the video I am showing you next, the speaker talks about an anxiety level diagram he was told about. Irrespective of how badly you feel while working on a long term goal, that feeling is mostly temporary. Primarily due to you being overwhelmed by such a large number of responsibilities and such a tight schedule.

 

In summary, being able to find a mentor is imperative in order to making a better decision regarding your career path at a young age. Workshops, internships, among other programs can indeed help those who have not been able to decide on a profession yet. I myself bemoan not having found a mentor at an earlier stage of my life. Even though I was lucky enough to meet  a couple "preceptors" later down the road; never did I dispose of the feeling that there was yet another piece of the puzzle that needed to be added. In other words, as long as you are pursuing what interests you and have the suitable educators around who can steer you in the right direction, everything will fall into place eventually.

Emotional Intelligence - Why Your EQ Is More Important Than Your IQ

It indeed has been a while since my last post. Notwithstanding, I did publish a teaser on my Facebook fan page. This topic I have chosen this time is emotional intelligence. Something the large majority of people lack even nowadays. I myself am learning how to apply it in my everyday life. Given that I have had to deal with a couple of rough situations in the past few weeks, it has in fact been essential for me to acquire some knowledge of this approach to life. In the following, am I going to address the essentials of this quality we should all have and provide some real life examples on them.

 

To begin with, it should be taken into account that emotional intelligence is not an inborn talent. Thus, the need for us to develop it through time. Our ability to either disarm people who have desire to hurt us, or successfully deal with an imminent conflict must be attained progressively. Albeit, the aforesaid is not easy task. Not only does it take skill and discipline to gain this capacity, quite a large amount of willpower must be added into the mixture so as to make it second-nature. Let me give you an illustration to elucidate on my explanation. Back when I was slightly younger, I happened to be about to leave the parking lot of a hospital with my mother. Be that as it may, out of nowhere, a person rear-ended her. Consequently, the only thing I resorted to doing was to get out of the car and yell at the man. The aforementioned yelled back at me and threatened to beat me up. Even so, I did not confront him physically. What I did instead was to call both the police and the insurance company. They were in fact the ones who ultimately dealt with the issue at hand.

 

What would have happened however, had I accepted that man's challenge to a physical confrontation. Well, I can tell you one thing for sure. By no means would things have ended in a better fashion. As a matter of fact, in my reaction in the previous paragraph I had used emotional intelligence without even knowing of its existence. Still and all, I have yet to spend time trying to master it. What is more, the ability to know how to express our feelings and emotions in a capable manner has to be learned by all. In point of fact, the information I shared in my teaser is quite true. If more schools implemented emotional intelligence programs throughout the world, the amount of high-school drop-outs and failed students would fall dramatically. The numbers are listed in the video I posted with the aforesaid teaser. This sort capability could have indeed help my deal in a better manner with the issue I had about three years ago. Case in point, had I known how to use emotional intelligence back then, I would have probably not even seen the need to quit school.

 

You live and learn as they say, I am going to employ most my time and efforts on mastering this skill. In fact, some even say it is more important than to have an off-the-charts IQ. It does make sense if you think about it however. What purpose could all the knowledge in the world serve to you, if you were unable to deal with difficult social situations at your work-place for instance? Being aware that emotions can drive our behavior and impact others in either a positive or negative way is crucial to keep in mind at all times. Never forget that it takes two to start a fight. Not to mention that most of the time knowing how to dissuade people from willing to fight  you is the best quality you could ever have.  

 

PS. As always, I will add a video to reinforce my explanations.

 

Sources:

- The School of Life YouTube Channel

- Actualized.org

Social Interaction & Performance: Crash Course Sociology #15

I know I promised I would write a post on this blog about a week ago. Nonetheless, school and some other obligations got in the way. Last week, I posted a teaser on social interaction and how crucial it is for us to be socially active. This time around, I will elucidate on it slightly further. Not to mention I will include a couple of examples in order to reinforce my explanations.

Whether we like it or not, we interact with other people at work, school, or anywhere we go on a constant basis. Thus, the need for us to learn how to behave properly in different situations. Besides, we all have a role in society. Regardless of how big or small, it is a role nevertheless. Apart from roles, we possess statuses. You see, a person usually performs a role, but they also hold a status. Be that as it may, there are some statuses we have no control over. For instance, skin color, gender, the financial situation of a person's parents, among others. The aforesaid are called ascribed statuses. They often happen at birth or later on in life, but are beyond our control. On the other hand, we have achieved statuses. Those are usually attained through hard work and the right conditions. Case in point, becoming the CEO of a reputable company.

Moreover, there is also the master status. In other words, the one people use to recognize you. The aforementioned status can either be accomplished such as "a doctor" or ascribed such as "color blindness patient". Notwithstanding, there are also situations in which roles do not have to be performed. Let me give you an example so as to illustrate my point. You happen to encounter one of your college professors at the mall. The interaction is of course going to be awkward. Due to the fact that it had not been planned in advance. Furthermore, there are countless situations such as the aforesaid in which the specific role of a person in society is not demarcated.

 

In review, I would say that there are a few things we should take into account when it comes to social interaction. Irrespective of how experienced we are socially, should we never disrespect others on account of their beliefs, sexual orientation, etc.  In fact, what makes developed countries remarkably appealing is the social diversity of their main cities. Keeping an open mind does provide you with more opportunities to grow in all aspects of life.

Sources:
- Crash Course YouTube channel

8 Habits of Highly Successful Students