I think that my current study habits have some good elements, but also some areas to improve upon. I think some good aspects of my study habits are the skill of active recall which I use when making and revising my notes, as opposed to reading them in order to learn and memorise. Despite this, one new thing which I plan to use for my mock exams is not typing notes online and instead, using physical paper and pen. Since active recall has been shown to be better when using physical notes as opposed to online ones, I think that it could go a long way towards making sure that my long term memorisation remains consistent. Another skill which I plan to implement for mock exams is long term recall, studying over longer periods of time instead of in the few days leading up to a test or exam. I think that this skill would be really useful when revising for mocks to ensure that I have longer retention of content.

I think that this unit has been a great opportunity, personally, to gain some insight and clarity into the skills we may need in the future and the outlook we should have when starting this process. An area which, I think, I learned the most in was the idea of networking because a lot of the time, we hear the concept being thrown around a lot in discussions about the future and we are told its importance without truly understanding how to do it. Through our class activities, I think that I was able to gain some insight into the skill that is networking and how to do it effectively depending on the context. I found this experience to be very useful and is something that I will definitely remember and carry with me as I enter the next stages of my education and job hunting.

Another area which I found to be quite interesting was conflict management in the workplace. Initially, I hadn’t given much thought towards the different ways we can approach conflict management in a professional setting but over the course of this unit, I found the importance of learning about it. I think that because when we are starting out in the workplace, we are in a position of low authority with many people helping guide and instruct us. Because of this, we want to ensure that we have the skills to politely and professionally question decisions and viewpoints without it escalating to the scale of a larger conflict. As a result, I think that learning about conflict management indirectly provided us with the skills we may need to go about the workplace setting and improve our relationships with future colleagues or bosses.

Overall, I think that this unit was a great learning opportunity for me to not only learn and understand new skills which I will bring with me into the workplace, but also to reflect on the skills that I have now and how I can showcase and build upon them in the future.

This year, I would like to develop the skill/quality of remaining positive and logical when in stressful situations. This is important to me because I think that this is a very important skill that ties into many others because in times of pressure or stress, keeping a level head will allow you to increase your awareness and also remain considerate of others. This will help me deal with stress and pressure in a more positive way as I can turn an already bad situation into something constructive if I have the right mindset, helping others around me because they might also be able to adopt a calmer and more positive approach. I think that positivity can influence others when in times of extreme stress because by one person being positive, others might be influenced to take another perspective when viewing the situation, allowing them to work through the problem and come up with more creative solutions that they may not have seen before.

One thing that I dislike in people is when they see most situations quite negatively or looking for the downside. I see this in myself when in stressful situations because I can sometimes project negativity and assume the worst before it actually happens. This bothers me because I can end up stressing myself out even more before I have the full information, a habit which can negatively influence people around you to start doing the same thing. If an entire group of people begins to think negatively, it can be hard to work the problem and come up with a solution as we are all focused on one perspective of an issue. I can overcome this by not assuming anything before I have the full information and taking the time to self- reflect and see if my thinking is rational or if I am being influenced by a stressful situation.