Self Reflection Essay

It’s always difficult to analyze yourself from the side and talk not only about your strengths but your weaknesses as well.
Having studied computer science as a major, I should say that I’ve improved my computer skills and got advanced knowledge of Microsoft office, in particular, I perfectly know all possibilities of PowerPoint. Moreover, I enhanced my knowledge in video editing and picture design. Now I’m an advanced user of related programs such as Photoshop, InDesign, CorelDraw, etc. I like this feeling when you can clearly see your development and personal growth as professional. Obviously, I don’t plan to stop and will continue to sharpen my professional skills to finally become one of the best in my future professional area.
Socializing with my colleagues and, now, groupmates, I’ve found out that I’m quite good at one-to-one communication. What is important here is that I’m a good listener, which I believe makes communication comfortable for both participants. I enjoy communicating with people of different cultures. International communication gives me not only new cultural knowledge about traditions, the way of thinking and behavior of people from different cultures but also an understanding of how to communicate to people from different backgrounds so as not to offend them and avoid misunderstanding.
Having moved to the U.S. for studies, I’ve discovered that I am a flexible person meaning that I easily adopt myself in a new country with a new culture, traditions, rules and norms in the society. That’s why it wasn’t a problem to get used to American culture when I first came to the States as an international student.
It may seem strange, but despite the fact that I feel very comfortable in one to one communication, I still need to improve my group communication skills, especially when presenting publicly in front of a group of people. The matter is that I get confused and can’t follow the structure of my speech and present my points to listeners in the right way. I faced this problem at work when having meetings with colleagues. Now I have this problem when presenting in front of my groupmates, however, I’m constantly working on this problem visiting workshops on public speaking and practicing during classes at the university.
One of the things to work on is long-term planning since I’m bad at doing this. I’m used to following short-term plans. That’s why I try to come up with at least one-year detailed plan and to think how I see myself in five years to understand what goals I have and what my action should look like. For example, in five years I see myself as a successful businessman. Thus, I understand that I have to get additional education to run my business effectively and to focus on both professional and personal growth.
One of my weaknesses is that I care too much about my work, which can put me in a risk and which makes me feel nervous all the time. I do my best to prioritize work, education, and personal things in the right order so as to make relevant efforts in each of the above-mentioned sphered.
Taking into consideration my personal experience, my strengths, and weaknesses, I should say that my best qualities will contribute to achieving my purpose which is to set up my own business and help me to complete my studies in Marketing successfully. In its turn, I believe that my current studies will also help me to learn how to communicate in front of others successfully, how to plan wisely and how to prioritize things. I believe that getting read of weaknesses and after completing my education I will get a job at AMARCO to get some professional experience and capital and to learn best practices from professionals. This will be another step on the way to my goal, which is to open a fashion designer shop.