Making right choices to realise dreams
LIFE is all about choices. They may be easy and straightforward where decisions are made relatively quickly. Such decisions are made with little thought, with little or no repercussions, as opposed to difficult choices where one wrong move might cause irreversible damage with far-reaching consequences.
We are not talking about situations where we are not in a position to make any choices (for example, our ancestry, our skin colour or the need to pass driving tests).
Whenever a person has difficult choices to make, the poem The Road Not Taken by poet Robert Frost, always comes to mind.
It is an undeniable fact that every person has to make decisions, depending on the urgency of the situation at different points of time.
There are hardly any exceptions to this stark fact of life.
The following examples aptly illustrate practical real-life situations where seemingly difficult decisions have to be made.
For instance a school-leaver has to decide on a suitable course in col- lege or university, while a fresh graduate will have to decide on which career path to pursue.
In such situations, the seasoned educator would recommend students to seek advice from experienced course counsellors, seniors, family and friends to gain better insights on courses or programmes that they are interested in.
Students are also encouraged to undergo personality and numeracy tests, which is to discover any latent strengths and skills waiting to be honed.
Furthermore, an analysis on one’s strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, is also encouraged to enable a student to further develop and amplify known strengths in order to scale greater heights in life, be it in academic, sports or co-curricular activities, and even careers.
Fresh graduates are more likely to embark on a highly rewarding and satisfying career with much room for growth and progress, if as employees, they are able to leverage all available resources to their advantage.
This is especially true if the employee is able to play to his strengths at work, where the boss appreciates many of his skills and talents.
In short, by knowing your personality traits, strengths, and skills better, you will be able to meet and even exceed the expectations of your superiors, and hence bring forth a highly rewarding long-term career where your talents are recognised and rewarded at work.
You are likely to not only survive, but thrive in the ever-challenging work place environment if you manage to adapt quickly and keep improving yourself by being up-to-date with the latest developments that the world brings.
By zooming in on the course or programme to pursue after graduating from secondary school, a student might consider whether to enter the science stream or arts stream, at pre-university level.
Students from the science background are eligible to take up arts, public relations, advertising, psychology, accountancy, business, marketing, management and other social sciences and linguistics programmes at university level, provided that they meet the entry requirements.
However, those who pursue arts foundation courses at pre university level are not eligible to pursue science courses such as pharmacy, medicine, bio-technology, computer science, architecture, engineering and other pure and applied sciences courses at degree level.
Should they decide to pursue science courses at degree level at some point later, they will then have to take up a science founda- tion programme at pre-university level and meet the entry requirements.
In fact, many universities around the world offer double degree programmes and allow students to major in science/engineering and minor in business or technopreneurship.
Most universities give students the flexibility to select elective subjects/courses they wish to take on top of compulsory core subjects.
The primary objective of getting a degree qualification is not only to gain some in-depth knowledge on the subject matter, that a student is interested in, but the degree also serves as a passport to secure jobs.
A potential employer would expect a degree holder to be equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge in order to execute tasks efficiently and effectively.
There have been times when employees who have communication, inter-personal and computer-literacy skills are able to perform better at work. They easily outshine their peers who are obvioulsy lacking in such skills.
It is important to note that time management and appropriate training in technical and soft skills, and developing strong inter-personal communication skills, will not only make a person job-ready, but also stand out.
In a nutshell, follow your heart and chase after your dreams.
Put in the effort and devise strategies to make your dream a reality.
Look up to successful and famous people for wisdom and inspiration.
For example, the late Steve Jobs who co-founded Apple Computers, said: “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”
FOO PIK YIN and
CHIN YOON MEI Department of Commerce & Accountancy
Faculty of Business and Finance Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Kampar Campus) Perak