Recognise Your Qualities= Reach Your Potential

In the first few weeks of BCM 313 we were given several exercises which has allowed us to know more about ourselves in two ways: Through assessing our own values through answering questions and through asking others. In the future of work, an important aspect of progressing in the workplace is to recognise your strengths and weaknesses, as well as the values and traits you carry. Many scholars highlight this as an integral part of one’s progression in their field. 

Beth Kuhel from the Personal Branding Blog says that “Research shows that it’s better to focus on your talents and uncover what you do well than to dwell on the areas you need to improve”. 

In the first class of the subject we had to do was to ask a family member, a workmate and a friend to describe you in one word. My father said ‘Hardworking’, my workmate said ‘Diva’ and my best friend said ‘D*$%head’. These are things I already know, the word my best mate used is certainly in good spirits as we both love to go at each other with insults, a value we both love. The word my workmate used is definitely the word to sum up what I already know: At my work (retail), I do like things to run smoothly. So when things don’t, and I’m the one that has the responsibility, I do get a little fierce.

We also filled out an online questionnaire in which I learned that I was a planner. Someone who loved to go about situations with a set plan. This I didn’t really notice about myself until now as I often believed that unplanned experiences do offer some unique opportunities or fun, but it did show my preference is to stay with planned events.

Another exercise is we had to interview and be interviewed by random students in our classroom who we didn’t know. The structure for these interviews revolve around four questions which are modelled around the ideas put forth by the scholar Michael White. The questions we had to ask were:

1. What was happening when you decided to do something that turned out well? What’s the basic story?
   
   I do boxing, and in practice I was sparring a guy much taller than me and I was getting dominated in the first round, because he was hitting me easily, and I couldn’t reach him cos of his height, and the fact I’m much much shorter . In the beginning of the second round I worked out I need to get closer and brawl, which made him uncomfortable, and allowed for me to find a lot of success as his long arms weren’t able to hit me up close, and I, being the shorter more compact guy, could land good shots from the inside.

2. Broadly, what do you think you were intending to do when you made this decision or choice?
   
   Just working strategically how I can beat this guy

3. Specifically, what value do you think you might have been trying to put into action? Can you see other times when this value has guided your actions, or is this new for you?
   
   Relentlessness and problem solving

4. Who knows about you that you would act in this way? Who supports or appreciates this intention that you have?
   
   My friends and coach

 

Reflecting on this made me realise I have a relentless attitude and I’m competitive. I believe by deconstructing and reflecting on our movements and decisions, from there we can identify values which we demonstrated at the time. From recognising our values, we can reflect on who in our lives we know would act this way.  

What these exercises did for me was that I was able to learn the qualities that I hold. I learnt that I am someone who loves to stick to plans, I have a strong work ethic and I always stay true to my values. But by having a strong work ethic, I might come off stubborn in problem solving situations. I’m good in teamwork, however if I was in a leadership position I’d struggle. So in retrospect to what these questions in class have taught me, in the workplace, I believe realistically recognising your qualities is the quintessential step in advancing in a career. So I took a look at some media sources which highlight this.

In another article by Leader Economics, the importance of recognising and working on your strengths is acknowledged as it says “Many people ask if it’s more worth their time to just focus on strengths or work on improving weaknesses? Generally, it would be better to focus more on your strengths”. I really liked this viewpoint as, why not build on your strengths to me yourself a master at what you’re good at.

An activity this article had which is similar to those in class is that you pick 5 qualities from table 1 and from table 2, and put them in order in which number 1 represents you the most and number 5 represents you the least. Notice the difference between table 1 and 2??  Table 1 focuses on the positive qualities you are aware of, and table 2 focuses on the more negative associated qualities you recognise.

In this forbes article the writer says that  “if you are looking to advance your career, finding and leveraging your workplace strengths is perhaps the most important thing you can do. “Strengths, motivation and task interest often go hand in hand, and when these three are in force, your performance will definitely show it and help your progression. But if you are stuck in a position that doesn’t leverage your strengths, your drive and performance will suffer along with your career advancement.” The last sentence I found the most important as it is true, if you can’t take advantage of your strengths, you’re slowing or halting your progression.

References

Kuhel, B. (2018). Want to Improve? Know Your Strengths – Personal Branding Blog – Stand Out In Your Career. [online] Personal Branding Blog – Stand Out In Your Career. Available at: http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/want-to-improve-know-your-strengths/ [Accessed 29 Aug. 2018].

Pillay, H. (2018). Why It’s Important To Know Your Strengths And Weaknesses. [online] Leaderonomics.com. Available at: https://leaderonomics.com/personal/why-its-important-to-know-your-strengths-and-weaknesses [Accessed 29 Aug. 2018].

Smith, J. (2018). How To Identify Your Workplace Strengths. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/08/30/how-to-identify-your-workplace-strengths/#49c5a0d311d3 [Accessed 29 Aug. 2018].

 

 

BCM320 Blog Post 3

So this week’s blog is to detail my own auto-ethnographic experience with this subject of Digital Asia and the field I’m looking in. My group have decided to delve into the culture of K-Pop

So being a Filipino Australian who has friends of many different cultures, I already felt like I have been exposed to a variety of traditions and texts as I’ve either been at a friends home and seen on the television a movie made in their respective culture, or other ways such as seeing what they share on social media and all that. I however did not really know much about Korean Pop other than Gangnam Style.

Before we looked into any sort of information regarding Korean Pop, we decided to just put a camera on us, and watch videos, and react. As little background information as possible. This would become our live reaction DA. We simply searched up the top 2 K-Pop bands and we found BTS and EXO who we all have heard of before but never looked into them. They both happened to be rival artists, and this is what led us to looking into the fandom in K-Pop as well. We watched 2 videos by BTS and EXO and reacted to them which were these:

 

Reaction Video

 

My auto-ethnographic experience with this video was that I instantly began to compare them to familiar artists in Western Media such as One Direction, Backstreet Boys, Nsync and more. I also began to analyse the musical features as I myself am a musician. I noticed typical pop melodies that are present in Western songs, as well as the dance choreography which is familiar yet unique. Interpreting these videos were actually very easy for me, except the foreign language. Musically, I heard everything I normally would hear in Western songs, I saw choreographed dance, and filming styles that I’m very much aware of. Exo’s music video was styled as a single shot one take video, same as the film Birdman. BTS’ music included rapping which reminded me of modern rappers that I listen to, although mixed in with pop music.

On top of these two videos, we also looked into videos of fans interacting with the bands and we learned that fans of K-Pop are crazy, and this is where I had my epiphany, looking into the fans. They are similar to the nature of soccer fans who fight each other and argue in all forms of social media about who is better. Seeing all these fan interactions and footage really baffled me as I couldn’t believe the extent of what these fans would do for their artists. One fan bought a singer an Xbox and gave it to him at a meet and greet. Others gave them jewellry, and a lot of them cried meeting their favourite artists.

 

BCM320 Blog Post 2

This week the screening we watched was the film Akira (1988) which is a Japanese animated post apocalyptic Sci-Fi film. The film has received critical acclaim over the years and is widely considered to be one of the greatest animated and Sci-Fi films ever made.

Prior to watching this, I haven’t been exposed to much anime, only ‘Ghost in The Shell’ that we watched in BCM 241. However as a kid I did watch Pokemon a lot and I also was into cartoons. So Akira is the second anime film I would be exposed to. Ghost in the Shell was a very fascinating and enjoying watch for me.

Viewing the movie I was surprised on how much I immediately engaged with it. I thought it would be somewhat foreign to me, but the graphics themselves as well as the english overdubs, I didn’t really need to adjust to the movie as much as I did with watching Godzilla. I must admit the english overdubs did help me a lot and made it more familiar to me.

The story of it is also not as foreign as I expected, the plot almost seems like that of a Western movie, so it’s very accessible. I love the style of the animations, and honestly can say if I didn’t now the film was made in 1988, I would’ve thought it was recent. There’s also nothing which grounds the film in 1988, 30 years ago, because the plot and themes, are still relevant and used in films today. If there’s one thing about Akira that is certain, is that it is Timeless. I also really loved the soundtrack of the movie, it is absolutely beautiful.

All in all, I absolutely loved the movie. I was very surprised how well I engaged with the movie, and didn’t need to step out of my comfort zone to immerse in it.

Another part of this week was reading an article Ellis At Al (2011) which is an in depth run down of what exactly Auto-ethnography is. What is delved into is the history, the process, and the results, as well as the criticism of it.

The very first sentence sums it up: “Autoethnography is an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyze (graphy) personal experience (auto) in order to understand cultural experience (ethno)”.

It is essentially the coming together of autobiography and ethnography. This is exactly what we did in our first blog post responding to Godzilla, the context of it, and how we perceive it based on our own experiences. So through that, I’ve already done Auto-ethnographic work.

The most interesting part of the article was the “Potentials, Issues and Criticisms” which detail some of the forms and approaches of auto-ethnography such as Indigenous/Native, reflexive, narrative, layered accounts, interviews and more, which was good. The different approaches really helps you figure out how to immerse in auto-ethnographic research and which methods are best for which situations.

MEDA302 Blog Post 3

For this week of MEDA302 we had a look into two texts which explore installation arts and projected images.

The first text on the set reading is a rundown of how installation art came to be, and the earliest work of installation art. Well some of the examples aren’t necessarily “installation art” by nature, like the Eisenhaim Alterpiece, the parts which are placed in places of worship are examples.

I feel the most important points the reading highlights is that installation art should be interacted with by an audience, in some way. Because, why go through the effort for an audience that would just simply look at it in the same nature as seeing a painting. It has to enthral the audience in a way different to the standard form of art (painting, film)

One interesting installation that I loved the idea of is on page 156 of the chapter and it is the Bronx, 1985 by Fabrizio Plessi, which’s message is that death comes to all things, even machines. And I feel only the form of an installation could really best create a message like that and be impacting.

The second reading is ‘The Projected Image in Contemporary Art’ , which is a discussion based reading that delves into the intrigue of the projected image. The form of installations and projections is one that has been shaped by many things throughout history of art, most notably the rise of cinema. In honesty I didn’t really connect much to this reading as it seems the people involved tried to overcomplicate what is not complicated. Maybe a very careful dissection, but unnecessary, but I guess one like this is needed. But