Jog to Christmas

I'm quite happy with how the course has gone by so far in it's 2nd year, I've discovered a never thought ability of being able to efficiently time manage. Which is something I've always struggled with, especially when it was taken on by such precedence in the 1st year. That and organization has never been my winning skill, sometimes I find it a barrier that holds back my creativity, though with the new 'Time Log' I've been using with the team project it's helped a great deal.

Instead of having to stop and record what I'm doing all the time.. I just let a full day flow out and then at the end assess how the day has gone and look at what I've done and how long it took me. I think this mixed with a small schedule is the method that suits me best. Starting the day off knowing exactly what I'm going to do, but knowing I could do each bit at any time and I'm not restricted to filling out a time sheet every time I switch from project to project.

It's something I did consciously work on, but not so much as to sit down and work all the fine details out. It's mainly been something that I've needed to get what has been needed done and organize it in a way I know what to do when. With a small help from Tom giving my a kick up the bum when deadlines are looming.. I've really been able to use it and pickup this skill I can carry on with.

Also has the 2nd year has developed, I've really refined my presentational skills and become a lot more confident when standing up there. This gives me the ability to project what I need to say properly and produce good presentations that can connect with the audience. I think a few things have been essential to this, the first of these is preparation.. I think maybe that's the biggest thing. If you are not prepared for the presentation you won't come across as confident because you don't know exactly what's going be said. Knowing your subject matter enables you to be comfortable and stop the nerves creeping in.

The 2nd of these is practice, with could be said as part of prepare, but it's nice to really highlight the need for practice. Going through it definitely helps you prepare, helping you iron out bits of the presentation you don't want to go in, this was very obvious in mine and Tom's practice presentation to Steve and the rest of our group. But because we had that practice and then another 'attempt/practice' the final one managed to come out great and we ended up landing the pitch.

I've really grown in myself over this past year so far, I'm now more mature and ready to handle the pressures of work. My core design skills have been more refined due to the more inspiration I'm having to find has part of A1 again. Confidence has soared recently and I'm happy with the way things are going.