Sometimes You Need to Take a Step Back to Move Forward


Somebody once told me, "Sometimes you need to take a step back to move forward." And I will never forget that sentence. In 2017, my family and I immigrated to the United States. Two months later, I found a job at an Asian seafood market. During this time, someone advised me that my age was still eligible for high school, and high school would prepare me for college. I was 19 years old at a time. That person told me that sometimes I need to take a step back to move forward. One week later, although I had already graduated from high school in Vietnam, I decided to go back to U.S. high school. Back to school, I felt extremely difficult to communicate with my teachers and classmates. I was unclear in the words and sentences I constructed, and most importantly, I did not understand what people're speaking. "Can you repeat that, please?" "Could you say that again, please?". These were the most frequent sentences I spoke of at the time. Sometimes people had to repeat three or four times so I could understand them. They were friendly and patient with me, but I was angry at myself. Then I knew that I had to make a strong determination to improve my English skills. I watched American movies, TV shows, although I didn't understand anything without the subtitle. I listened to podcasts, Youtube videos in English day by day. I tried my best to talk with my teachers, classmates, cashiers, or Uber drivers. Two years later, in 2019, I graduated from high school when I was 21 years old. And I started my college journey when my friends in Vietnam were college seniors. Currently, I'm in my third year of studies towards a bachelor's degree. Looking back on my journey, I realize that sometimes the best way to move forward is taking a step back. Thank you for your listening!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Coming Attractions: Developing An OB Model

Image
  Coming Attractions: Developing An OB Model 1.6  Compare the three levels of analysis in this text’s OB model. We conclude this chapter by presenting a general model that defines the field of OB and stakes out its parameters, concepts, and relationships. By studying the model, you will have a good picture of how the topics in this text can inform your approach to management issues and opportunities. Overview A  model  is an abstraction of reality, a simplified representation of some real-world phenomenon.  Exhibit  1-3  presents the skeleton of our OB model. It proposes three types of variables (inputs, processes, and outcomes) at three levels of analysis (individual, group, and organizational). In the chapters to follow, we proceed from the individual level ( Chapters  2  through  8 ) to group behavior ( Chapters  9  through  14 ) to the organizational system ( Chapters  15  through  17 ). The model illustrates that inputs lead to processes, which lead to outcomes; we discuss interre
Read more

There are Few Absolutes in OB

  There are Few Absolutes in OB 1.4  Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to OB. Laws in the physical sciences—chemistry, astronomy, physics—are consistent and apply in a wide range of situations. They allow scientists to generalize about the pull of gravity or to be confident about sending astronauts into space to repair satellites. Human beings are complex, and few, if any, simple and universal principles explain human behavior. Because we  are not alike, our ability to make simple, accurate, and sweeping generalizations about ourselves is limited. Two people often act very differently in the same situation, and the same person’s behavior changes in different situations. For instance, not everyone is motivated by money, and people may behave differently at a religious service than they do at a party. This doesn’t mean, of course, that we can’t offer reasonably accurate explanations of human behavior or make valid predictions. It does mean that OB concepts must reflect situational, or
Read more

Complementing Intuition with Systematic Study

Image
  Complementing Intuition with Systematic Study 1.2  Show the value of systematic study to OB. Whether you’ve explicitly thought about it before or not, you’ve been “reading” people almost all your life by watching their actions and interpreting what you see, or by trying to predict what people might do under different conditions. The casual approach to reading others can often lead to erroneous predictions, but using a systematic approach can improve your accuracy. Underlying the systematic approach is the belief that behavior is not random. Rather, we can identify fundamental consistencies underlying the behavior of all individuals and modify them to reflect individual differences. These fundamental consistencies are very important. Why? Because they allow for predictability. Behavior is generally predictable, and the  systematic study  of behavior is a means to making reasonably accurate predictions. When we use the term  systematic study , we mean looking at relationships, attempti
Read more