“MY THOUGHTS”

DEEP THINKING OR PONDERING

As I reflect on my journey in this class (Professional Performance at BTVI), I had lots of fun,
laughter and I learned a lot. I am a much better professional because of this experience.

Our Instructor, Mr. Cole left no stone unturned. We had competitive Question and Answer
Sessions on Blooket and Quizizz. I was soooo close to winning on more than one occasion, but
someone always stole my points/money and came out on top of me. I also enjoyed completely
the Quiz for each topic along with the activity for that week because it enforced what we had
already learned as our instructor taught the class. I loved sharing the Professional Videos with
my co-workers to help us all be better in our work environment.

Reflecting on the topic notes that we shared and the intriguing discussions, I want to share a little
snippet of the topic notes and discussion with you my readers to get an idea of what we dealt
with on our journey:
“Financial Lessons (My Discussion Topic)” from the Week Topic Personal Financial
Management
As quoted from our text, “Personal finance affects all areas of life. Finances are important in
helping reach the goals you identified in Chapter 1. Personal financial management does not
have to restrict your activities. Instead, it is a way to make your financial resources assist you in
reaching goals while ensuring a healthy financial future. Now is the time to start making your
money work for you by creating a personal financial plan”. Going through the financial budget
statement was very informative, and even our discussion on the statement was interesting and
thought provoking. Making you think about what if it were you in that financial situation how
would you handle it. My personal experience on this topic was discussed in our group
discussion, which gave me a lot of insight into how my classmates think and act in certain
situations. However, I am going to share it here to tie it all in.
As a child, I was told by my mother, if you make a mess clean it up. In life, that statement is true
of our finances. She also said, never put your basket higher than you can reach it. These sayings
rang true to me when I got into financial situations in college where I made a purchase with the
credit card I had. Things was good when I was able to make my payments on time, but no one
told me, when I was late with my payments the fees would be even higher. The reason why I
wasn't able to make the payments is because I had lost my job, as a Student Assistant in the Vice
President's Office and I was not able to keep up with the bill. This lesson taught me to depend
less on a credit card, and more on making things work with the cash that I get while I am
working. And, if I am not working a steady job, put myself out there to learn new things to make
ends meet. For example, I work at an auto body shop from time to time, learning a new trade
while making money doing chores to make ends meet.

“Keep Calm, Take Your Finger Off The Trigger!!! (My Discussion Topic)” from the Week
Topic Stress on Performance
Our text on the Stress on Performance stated, “The first step in dealing with stress is to identify
key stressors in your life. Learning to both identify and deal with these stressors will reduce their
negative effects. Be aware of them and how they affect your attitude and behavior. Life is not
stress free”. This point affected me most because it is something I struggle with and good
positive reinforcement are helpful for me to prevent moments of unprofessionalism because I am
tired or stressed. My learning has changed to make me a better leader because I am able to
maintain my composure in times of pressure and/ stress. My personal experience with this topic
was one that I also shared with my classmates in our discussion area.
As a parent, when I hear a tone or comment from one of my children where I am getting lone
attitude, that's a trigger point for me. I know I can improve on this because before I go from 1-
10, I ask that particular child to try again because I was not picking up the right tone or the
comment was out of order let's try fixing it and come again. This statement of gesture often dials
back whatever was about to rage at the thought of being spoken to like I was their friends or
something. I agree with your above statement, "There is no need to respond, just acknowledge
that you have received it". I do this now with my supervisor at work, when I receive his emails, I
acknowledge that I received it by typing the following:
Good Afternoon Mr. John Doe,
Noted.
Sincerely,
Vandrea Claridge
First of all, preventing a trigger can be a challenge, but what to do when a trigger takes place, I
would suggest taking a nice long deep breath and exhale. If, that does not bring some stability
back to you, simply, step away from the situation or the thing that triggers you and try your best
to regain composure.
Secondly, know that the trigger is not in control of you, you are in control of your emotions and
weight the whole situation loosely saying less, while maintaining a professional demeanor.
In conclusion, when a trigger takes place, maintain a calm cool professional demeanor whether at
home or at work. It works for me, what about you?!!!
“Workplace Moments of Unprofessionalism (My Discussion Topic)” from the Week Topic
Etiquette/Dress
There was this one time, I got into a back-and-forth email war with my supervisor because he
tried to throw me under the bus and he was dead wrong. So, the first email came to me from my
supervisor and it struck the wrong chord with me, so instead of putting just my facts in the email,
I put my feeling and my emotions in there, too. He sent me a response and I sent him one right
back. When I saw that the war would continue, I stopped responding to the emails.

That was a learning curve for me, I learnt to only respond to my supervisor with facts, which
includes dates and times, as well. I found when I sent those emails, my supervisor had very little
to say in response. And, believe it or not, after sending my factual emails, he still found
something to say, so my email responses to his emails have become "Noted", Sincerely, Vandrea.
LOL! That remedy did the job because I realized if the ideas or thoughts wasn't his, then it was a
problem.

“Positive Friend vs Negative Friend (My Discussion Topic)” from the Week Topic Positive
and Negative Influence
A positive friend is someone who will encourage you to do better every day and supports you
through thick and thin. A negative friend on the other hand would encourage you to do things
that is not good for you (your health, your job, your family, etc.).
I handled the positive relationship by doing a self-reflection, and making the adjustments
necessary because my friend had my best interest at heart. However, with the negative
relationship, I found it to be very unhealthy for my self-worth and forward movement, I had to
distance myself from the person, so as to not be influenced negatively any longer.
The Positive Influences made me a better person.

“Vandrea's Unique Learning Styles (My Discussion Topic)” from the Week Topic Learning
Styles
The strongest of all my Learning Styles is Visual. I am a visual learner. My visual learning is
supported by auditory, kinesthetic, and interpersonal styles of learning. For me visual learning is
just one part; I also have to dance while I am working (Auditory), while doing something hands
on (Kinesthetic) to enforce my learning, all simultaneously interacting with others. These
combinations just work for me.

“My Goals for the Future! (My Discussion Topic)” from the Week Topic Goals
Goals are important to me because they are like a checklist of things to accomplish throughout
life. They let me know that I am progressing and accomplishing what I set out to do.
In the next ten (10) years God spares life, I see myself in my home, comfortably travelling to
visit my children because they have graduated from university and enjoying the fruits of my
recently acquired Master's Degree in MIS and Project Management.
Overall, this experience with Mr. Cole and my classmates is one, I won’t soon forget. Thank you
for taking the time to go through my website, right to the very end. I appreciate you and I hope
that you were inspired in someway or another from my journey with my “Professional
Performance” Course at BTVI.