#Professional Development

[femmefatalevibe]

Femme Fatale Guide: 15 Essential Business Skills Everyone Should Master

Articulate, confident communication

Crafting effective, compelling pitches

Operating and communicating through a solution-oriented framework

Research of all types (Google, market research, studies, polls, interpersonal conversations, etc.)

Learning how to streamline, edit, and organize information in a clear and logical way

Accumulating high-level working knowledge/proficiency in all tools and programs directly related to your type of work/industry

Budgeting and financial optimization (investment, tax benefits, etc.)

Reading and interpreting legal contracts/documents

Setting rates, boundaries, and learning when/how to delegate

Good posture, direct eye contact, and a firm handshake

Building streamlined systems for onboarding, different repeat project scopes/workflows, and KPI measuring

The art of following up, listening to (potential) clients' needs, asking thoughtful questions, and benefit-oriented salesmanship

Consistently reading, learning, and studying current events/cultural platforms/industry and field-related knowledge

How to spot customer/client/business partner red flags

Self-management, task/project prioritization, and optimization of your personal energy clock + levels

[katiajewelbox]

Katia Plant Scientist is finally Dr. Katia Hougaard! Last month, I passed my viva voce exam at Imperial College London and officially earned my PhD in plant biology. A viva voce is the British academic system's final hurdle in the PhD pathway. This exam involves two experts who read the PhD candidate's thesis and then interview the candidate on his or her research. The aims are to make sure that the PhD candidate designed and carried out the experiments in the thesis and that he or she fully understand the scientific methods involved. Although there were many challenging questions, the viva went very well for me and I passed with minor corrections. This photo shows me celebrating the milestone with my supervisor Professor Colin Turnbull as well as my colleagues Dr. Po Yuan, Dr. Javaid Iqbal, and Dr. Rosa Lopez-Cobollo. I am very grateful to my supervisor for his unwavering support and mentorship in preparing for the viva. I will share more insights on the PhD journey in future posts! hashtag#katia_plantscientist hashtag#imperialcollegelondon hashtag#phd hashtag#phdviva hashtag#vivavoce hashtag#colleagues hashtag#plantbiology hashtag#phdjourney hashtag#biology hashtag#science hashtag#womeninscience hashtag#academia hashtag#lifeupdate hashtag#professionalmilestone hashtag#academicsuccess

[puzzled-on-main]

thanks coursera

[recsspecs]

The world is about change — often unexpected change. Change is as unavoidable as death and taxes.

Complete MBA For Dummies by Kathleen Allen Ph.D., Peter Economy

[187days]

Day One Hundred Fifty-Nine

Today was a half day for students, and a long day for staff.

First thing I had to do was print off sub plans for Mr. O, whose wife went into labor overnight. His students were adorably excited that he's going to be a dad because, of course, he'd told them his wife was expecting so they wouldn't be surprised if he was absent for a few days.

Once I was sure his sub was squared away, I went and got ready for my own Global Studies classes. I did a lecture-discussion lesson about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, covering some of the major events between the Second intifada and the 2023 Hamas attack. Nothing flashy, but it was effective.

After that, I had lunch with my Cacophonous friends, and had enough time afterwards to dash home to my apartment and change from dress clothes to comfortable ones before the afternoon professional development started. The Principal had said we could wear comfortable clothes all day, but I didn't see that email. So.

The reason he said it was because the professional development was active shooter training- heavy subject, may as well be comfortable. We weren't doing actual drills; we were listening to a presentation from some big police chief. I hated every minute of it, so I won't be writing about it any further.

We wrapped up at 4:30, and, thankfully, were able to walk out into a gorgeously sunny day. It did help, after all that.

[inconsistently--consistent]

Book Review

It's an interesting read. Uplifting. Very logical.

I liked his vocabulary of 4 levels instead of 1st, 2nd, or 3rd world countries. It felt much more accurate. It also allowed for a more nuanced discussion of what issues are happening where. For example, women's education is won in levels 2 - 4 but not level 1.

There are some parts where I disagree with the logic. Like there's a part where he and many other parents change how they let their babies sleep because of one flawed study. Then when they switch back to how it's been done for thousands of years he uses it as an example of open mindedness for new ideas being good. I understood that as be discerning when new studys claim everything that worked in the past is wrong. And don't go to other parents and insist they do it your new way. Especially because babies actually died over this flawed study and parents strictly enforcing in amongst each other.

[dearfriendoverseas]

Screaming Silently

Idk how to implement change in this organization. I feel SO presumptuous suggesting things to site admin and teachers. Everyone needs more fucking professional development. This is WILD. WHY ARE PEOPLE EXPECTED TO RETAIN MISBEHAVING STUDENTS--any students, come to think of it--WITHOUT THE TOOLS TO DO SO. Give them a fucking scholarship and ask them to be trained. Teachers have to have a bachelor's to be hired anywhere serious! Give these people training!! Oh my gosh.

[fayeandknight]

In exciting news I finally found and was accepted to attend a seminar that I'm super excited for! It's a four day introduction to service dog training. It has a robust agenda and will cover a lot including laws, temperament selection, foundational skills, mobility tasks, scent based tasks, hearing related tasks, psychiatric tasks, and various public access skills.

Really grateful to my boss for this gift. I'm so looking forward to this opportunity to learn more and expand my skills. And even more excited to have more skills and information with which to help others.

[writersblock8]

today is thursday

hello

i am continuing to obsess over floyd collins – not necessarily because of the production i saw at lincoln center, but because of the beauty of the score and the humility of the lyrics. namely "the dream." so stunning.

today, i am trying to find some texts / articles on lyric writing for the stage. i'm excited to read a lot and find out how to get better. a lot of my (stage) lyrics right now are adapted text or bad on purpose. i have one song that's been publicly performed that is not adapted from something that is genuine in its tone and not trying to mock or imitate something. it'll come with time, but i want to come up with some more tools to become a better lyric writer. it'll take some time. maybe i can look through some research databases and some texts from the nypl to integrate into my practices. that'll also undoubtedly help with the adapted texts.

my other creative challenge today is to dive into various musical scales. that will only influence me to venture into less conventional progressions and melodies. i remember watching a rehearsal robert shaw did with his chorale (that typically performed major works at carnegie hall at the time this video was taken) where they were rehearsing a section of verdi's requiem and they were repeating the enigmatic scale together (or some variant) and it was such a hypnotizing sound. not quite a whole tone scale, not quite a major or minor scale, something beyond. i might look at using it in macbeth somewhere.

full disclosure: i have found it incredibly hard to be motivated since my concert. my body is tired all the time (probably because i'm staying up too late) and my mind is...also tired all the time. i desperately want to finish it, but i'm a little overwhelmed by how much more i have to do. over half the show still needs to be written musically, but at least everything has been started! that's a good thing! just don't really wanna keep going most days. most days, i'd rather sleep on a cloud and never do anything again. trying to get better though. and that's a start.

[femmefatalevibe]

Hi, I’m trying to change industries to my dream industry. I’m on my 30s but I couldn’t do it before because of personal reasons and taking care of family members and mental health.

My friends, some of them, think I’m wasting my time and they don’t support me and my mum is trying to let me know in a not subtle way that she’s expecting me to grow up of this idea. But I really want to go for it!

However, because all of this, I’m getting anxious that maybe it’s late, that I should have done it before, that because I don’t have experience in this industry I won’t get hired and because it’s a new industry and my city is small (not small us but small village in a country in Europe) I can’t do networking but in LinkedIn and it’s hard because I don’t know someone. And im starting to second guess myself and thinking I’m eating my time but I really hate the industry I’m working now, so I feel really stuck and I can’t move forward with the industry change because all of this. Do you have any advice? Do you think it’s late? Thank you so much <3

Hi love! I believe there are two important points to be made here.

The best time to start is years ago. The second best time to start is now. Time will continue to pass for several more decades, so consider whether you want to "what if" yourself about pursuing your dreams 20 years from now. In my opinion, it's better to go after what you want and fail fast. Living with regrets, at least for me, feels worse than pursuing something I wanted and it not unfolding as my expectations lead me to believe.

While going after what you want is important, especially with your career, you need to be practical and a little more methodical (even a bit conservative) in your approach to ensure you don't run into financial trouble. No dream is worth struggling with life-hindering debt – at least in my opinion.

With these two considerations in mind, I would consider beginning to pursue this career path as a hobby in the meantime while maintaining whatever stable employment you have at the moment. Prioritize your time engaging in this "hobby" like it's a mandatory appointment with yourself.

Consume articles, books, and podcasts. Take courses/build skills in your dream industry/role. Create a portfolio of your own spec work to demonstrate your commitment and talent within this field. Use LinkedIn/virtual conferences to network strategically. Follow people in your dream industry and key leaders. Comment/engage with their material. Send them personalized messages with praise/feedback on posts or insights they shared.

Message people attending the same conferences to connect. Set up informational interviews/coffee chats if possible (offer to pay for a virtual coffee, etc.). If there are any gig/job opportunities, share this spec work to demonstrate your skills and frame your background as a series of transferable skills.

Also, never underestimate the power of your second-degree network on LinkedIn, but mainly IRL. Let your trusted, supportive friends and acquaintances know you're interested in the field. You never know who knows someone.

Hope this helps! Best of luck xx

[lovinglifeinspiringothers]

Loving Life Designs

#lovinglife #inspiringothers #llio #life #inspiration #inspiring #luvlife #lovinlife #inspire #luvinlife

[starr-angelofnarnia]

As long as I get a 66 on my final paper, I can pass the class with an A.

Watch my bothers as they fly away. Don't care anymore.

[187days]

Day One Hundred Twenty-Six

Today's teacher workshop day started in the auditorium. The Principal and Dean 1 went over the expectations for the morning: examining the NWEA reports for our current students, identifying trends, figuring outwhich skills we should be focusing on developing. At first, I think a lot of folks thought it would boring or tedious, but it was actually really worthwhile.

My department split into groups based on what grade level(s) we teach, compiled notes on what we were seeing in the data, and then came together to look at the overall picture. It really was telling, and it gave us so many things to consider about our instruction and vertical alignment. We'll be discussing that more in future PLC meetings and such, but we definitely got the ball rolling today.

Admin gave us three hours to do that work, but my department is quick, so we wrapped up in less than two. In that time, though, both The Principal and Dean 1 came by to see us and thank us for sharing our work so promptly (I'd added them- and Dean 2, who came by later to speak to me, specifically- to our shared working document as soon as it was created). I often joke that my department is a group of show-offs and over-achievers, but there's some truth to it. We take pride in being exemplary, and being known for our cohesiveness. So did we all applaud each other after that? Little bit.

And then we did spend twenty minutes checking out course selections for next year, tentatively drafting schedules for who's teaching what, and chatting about whatever... But I wanted everyone to have time to get other stuff done because there's never enough of that if you don't make it, so we went our separate ways around 10:00. I went to catalogue books and clear off shelves in the staff room, and to chat with Mr. J in school counseling.

At noon, we all headed to the cafeteria where we were joined for lunch by our middle school colleagues. The afternoon was all about collaboration with them, so the principals thought it would be nice to get everyone together for some good (and free!) food and casual conversation first.

In our meetings, we had specific questions to answer about the middle to high school transition, and that did take the whole time that had been allotted for it- two hours- but mostly because we kept reminiscing and joking around in between having serious conversations. Two of the middle school social studies teachers are Mr. Y and Mr. A- a former student and my former student-teacher- so I knew it was going to a ball for me to see them, but, turns out, the whole lot of us get along like a house on fire. We all agreed that we weren't expecting to laugh so much in this meeting, but we're glad we did. I think Ms. A, being so new, was a little unsure of herself, at first, but she was laughing and bantering right along with everyone else in no time.

And, yeah, we got the work done, too. We identified a lot of the challenges of that transition, and some potential solutions. And we have plans to continue the communication, and work to support each other.

So, all in all, it was a really good day, and really productive. Gotta love when you can say that about a workshop day!

[captaingimpy]

The Generalist Mindset: Why It’s Better to Be “Good Enough” at Everything

In a world that constantly pushes for specialization, being a generalist—a “jack of all trades”—can sometimes feel like swimming against the current. That old saying, “jack of all trades, master of none,” often gets thrown around as a warning against spreading yourself too thin. But people forget the full expression: “jack of all trades, master of none, but better than a master of one.” And that…

[kids-worldfun]

Are Online IT Courses Suitable for Career Changers?

Career change is a bold decision that requires determination and consideration for the development of proper skill sets. On the other hand, one of the most effective ways to build such skills for those who wish to transition into the field of technology will be through online IT courses. Whichever sector one comes from—be it finance, marketing, education, or any other sector—IT has huge…