It's been a while since I last participated in the Weekend Engagement series. I was travelling and hence took a break from Hive, which led to a pause in posts as well as engagement with the community here, and this week I am back!
Name two things you do well and two things you do badly and explain.
I like these kind of prompts because it makes one perform some form of self reflection, and I had to dig deep and assess myself as objectively as I could. Amidst our busy lives, it's not so easy to get some opportunities to do this exercise. So here goes!
Math
Whether it's numbers, mathematics, statistics or whatever you call them, it's one of my strengths. (Ah, I hope I don't sound I am bragging, but the prompt requires me to explain.) I have always enjoyed Maths as a subject in school, and I majored in Statistics for undergraduate programme in university. It sounds weird but I like to crunch numbers, look at data, do some forecasting and projections, and the ten digits 0-9 just fascinate me a lot. You probably would realise this aspect in some of my Hive posts as well.
Planning
I like to organise and plan things and hence I think I do well in this area. In work, it can be project management to ensure that deadlines are met. For leisure, I like to plan my vacation trips, not to a T, but to ensure that the important activities and attractions are covered. On a personal level, I like to plan my time to ensure that my time is spent meaningfully and I have sufficient pockets of time, for socialising, for penning posts like these, for exercise, for my loved ones. I know this might sound a little crazy, especially friends who are really into spontaneity, but that's just me. Everyone has their strengths, and their accompanying weaknesses. For this, the accompanying weaknesses, unfortunately, would be being inflexible and more resistant to change.
P.S. I actually realise it's easier to come up with things that I am bad, or perhaps, things that I have to improve. So I had a hard time shortlisting down to two. Haha. Anyway, here goes!
Networking
They didn't teach us networking in school, and being quite an introvert, I always found networking a challenge. After more than a decade in the workforce, you could say I have subconsciously picked up some basic skills such as making small talk, observing the non-verbal cues or even doing public speaking, but it's just something that I constantly struggle. Even on Hive, I am not the friendliest person or the most chatty follower around, but I just want to say that doesn't diminish my enthusiasm and sincerity over here, and I appreciate that the friends over here, who befriend me and accept me for whom I genuinely am. To whoever is reading this, thanks.
Creativity
I am bad at the arts, those stuff that need creativity. It can be simple stuff like designing a thumbnail, or thinking of a name or slogan for an article or product. My mathematical brain has programmed me to be someone who is very logical and systematic, and I can't really think outside the box sometimes. I think it's not something that would pose challenges in my life, but recognising this weakness would mean I would need to rely on friends or colleagues when life or work calls for such requirements. After all, it's about tapping on the right people for the right task, because no one can be perfect in everything.
So that's my two things that I do well, and the two things I do badly, a very logical and systematic post. HAHA.
Before I end, I just wanted to share some concluding thoughts using an interesting experience I encountered in my recent travels. I was in Osaka, Japan last month, and I participated in an activity where you get to customise your own perfume. As shown in the instruction card, you can get pick the scents you like, and the staff would proceed to concoct the one and only combination to your liking. It was an enjoyable process and activity, and my nose really had a good buffet of smelling all the pleasant scents.
At the end, I had my final product and I chose to label the perfume "Relf". And getting to the message that I want to put across, I think each of us are just like different bottles of the perfume. We all have different scents, some are sweet, some are musky, but we are all our unique selves and we have a role to play in the society, regardless of our strengths our weakness. Because, no one is perfect. :)
