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The biggest lesson that learn since I started college was learned in this semester. This semester was by far the hardest and craziest semester I ever had. In sleep on average 5 hours a day and most of my time was studying. I didn’t have social life and my group expend more time with me than my wife. However, I learn that everything that we want can be accomplished.

In my last day of Mcom class, Professor Middleton told us her paraglide theory. The theory is that everything you focus on will happen. If you thing that this tomorrow will be a hard day it will be, if you think that the test will be hard it will be. All this things happen because we focus so much on it that our bodies and mind starts to go towards you desire or fear. Therefore, we can accomplish anything we want, we just need to focus on our objectives and work hard.

I will start putting the same energy and focus that I have for school and work in my personal goal like: exercise, be a better husband and member of the church.

The next video is just to show how well I and my brother take care of my nice. By the way, sorry the video it is all in Portuguese.

The link under the video is from the system blog. She is also a photographer, so if you what to see her pictures you can go through her blog.

http://ostorgans.blogspot.com/

Networking Event

WHAT??? Today I went to my first networking event. It was a Ballard Center meeting were they invite several director from the Perpetual Education Fund (PEF). They were there to explain more about PEF, trends in the world, and invite us to apply to their different on campus internships. During David’s, director of the PEF, presentation a notice how many company and people are fighting to turn our world in a better place. Most companies that I talk to is all about making profit and decreasing cost. However, their vision today was different. They were more focus on others and in selfless actions.

WHO??? At the end of the presentation I meet Jeff Robert employee of PEF. We talked about the growth of countries and the need for even more education. Also, we discussed Brazil economical policies and how PEF fits in. Those were just some of the topics they discussed. At the end of our conversation he invited me to apply and said that I would be a perfect fit for their project. He also send the most people hired by PEF comes from those on-campus internships. With this experience I saw the importance of going to networking events because there are a lot of opportunities out there.

SO WHAT????? With PEF presentation and meeting David and Jeff a notice the importance of give back to community what we received. Most people does not have the opportunity that I’m having, therefore, my duty is to give the same opportunity to others. The more we focus in others less problems we will have.

NOW WHAT??? I will not only look for big billionaire companies to inter or work for but also look for companies like PEF so what I do can change the people’s life. BYU motto is: “Enter to learn and go forth to serve” and that will be my motto too.

Remote Meeting

Since my group and I started working in our group project we used Google Hangout to communicate and schedule face to face meeting. Our meeting were very effectives and sort. All documents necessary for the case was in a Google doc were everyone had access to. However, we never had the experience to do a remote meeting.

Last week we did our first remote meeting and different. Communication is much harder and with you don't have a mediator you meeting can get out of track easier than face to face meeting meeting. One thing that a notice is that because of the delay of the internet several people would be talking at the same time and it has hard to understand the idea. Another point that change the environment of the meeting is the background of the participant. One of the participant had her roommate in the back and throughout all the meeting I was trying to figure it out what her roommate was doing. So organization, background, mediator, and a good microphone is key for a good remote meeting. 

In that meeting we were discussing about our cause project. For that project we created a survey to understand people's option about Adobe. Even though our project is over, I would like to know want you think. So right below this paragraph you have a link for the survey.

Adobe Survey 

Hard Things

This past week was the craziest week of my life. This week I had a project called INTEX, that is an activity that you prepare a proposal for a new system a presented the solution for a board. Just to finish the project took me 67 hours beside time to prepare presentation and present. At the beginning I was complaining about how hard it was and how time consuming it was being. However, I learn that it is through hard things that we learn and value what was created or done.

Life will never be easy and if we want to have success in life we need to do hard things. All successful people give time, effort, money or a type of sacrifice in a certain way. Therefore, success only come we hard work and persistent. And at the end, if people don’t like the result it will not matter because you will feel proud of yourself.

I will start to get out of my comfort zone and start doing hard things. That is not proud on being week and lazy.

LAS VEGAS!!!!

This week my wife and I went, for the first time, to Las Vegas. We had a lot of fun and we enjoyed every single moment there. However, I learn the importance of not gamble and how addicting it is.

 My first experience gambling was in my honeymoon, where we separate 40 dollars just to play in the casinos of the cruse. In the first 30 minutes we lost all the money. With this experience I could not understand why people would gamble. However, in this trip to Vegas I understood why.

The second experience gambling was in Las Vegas. My wife and I did the same thing that we did in our honeymoon, we took 40 dollars just to play in the casinos. This time we won, we left the casino with 45 dollars. I remember how happy we were. However, the taught that we could win easy money stayed in my head for hours.

I learn that gambling is really addicting and that we should not do it and there is not easy money. If we want to be rich we need to work hard because everything that comes easily also disappear easily.

Hoot Suite

Hoot Suite 

WHAT?? In my presentation, this week, I explain the importance of using Hoot Suite to manage social media. What I learn from it is that social media is more powerful that we can image. Most companies are trying to avoid social media because they thing is not worth it deal with so much information. If you don’t have a tool to manage social media is almost impossible to analysis all comment in every single social media. However, Hoot Suite makes our and every social media managers’ life much easier.

SO WHAT?? The importance of knowing about Hoot suite is that every one of us in 1, 2, 3 or maximum of 5 years will all be working and dealing with the dilemma of using social media. If we know Hoot Suite and how to use it, we will stand out and we can get raise or even promotion just because we know a tool.

NOW WHAT?? To the end of the year, I will learn how to use better my Hoot Suite account and I will try to do analysis about what people think about me grossing all social media platform.

LinkedIn

This week we have been discussing several topics and technology that can help us or our business in this modern days. One of the presentation that really got my attention was about the use of LinkedIn for networking purpose. I have a LinkedIn but I never gave importance to it. I just did because every business person was sing up for one. However, I learn that more than 92% of companies today use LinkedIn for recruiting purpose and more than 80% of the jobs are not listed in the internet. Normally those 80% come for you, and not you for them.  Therefore, I learn the importance of LinkedIn in today’s world and how importance it is to get your net work

So what I’m going to do this week is expend more time improve my LinkedIn and leverage it to get my dream job. Also, I will teller my LinkedIn to the job that I’m looking for and stop to put everything that I did in my life on it.

Kill one Leon a Day

“Kill one lion a day” is a Brazilian cultural sentence meaning just solve one big problem a day. This week was so busy for me that I didn't know want to do. I had so many problem to solve that was hard to find time to do everything. So this sentence came to my every day.

What I learn was that we need to organize our time and focus in one big problem a day. Sometimes we try to change the world in one day, but that is impossible. The big secret is to be constant. We just need to solve, figuratively, one problem, do one big project, or do um mid-term a day. And as we develop this constancy we will have more success and solve more problems in our lives.

Now, I will continue to solve problem but one at a time. I will not be like crazy anymore run all through Provo trying to solve all my problems in one day. Like the Brazilians says “Kill one lion a day”

Web Interview

Web Interview

Today I participate, for the first time, in a web interview. Even though the interview was only class activity I could feel the difference between a normal interview and web interview. Most part of our communication is our body language and that is why most people preferred doing one-a-one interview. However, with web conference companies are change their way of conducting interview.

 Web interview is more relaxing environment and you have more source to help you.  You can have notes, company’s website open in the top of your screen, and you can adjust sound. However, even though you can see the person some of the body language communication is missed. Therefore, I prefer normal interview where you can express yourself in a more fully way.

For what I learn from this practice I need to improve in three areas:

1.  Speak slowly,
2. be more concise
3.  more direct. 

Because the internet is a more relax environment we tend to speak more. However, we need to remember that we need to be objective, concise, and direct to the point in our answers. Also, When a get nervous I tend to speak faster. So I will, control my speed better and try to nauseate better my words.

What It is Wrong?

What It is Wrong?

This week I felt the dumbest person of the earth. I had two midterms and I had study a lot to each of them. I was feeling very confident when I was in line on the test center. In my mind everything was going to go well and I would get an A at the end. However, the end was not as I imagine. When a left the testing center I saw that I got the worse grade I ever got since I started BYU. I don’t know how to describe those feeling. I walked home think what I did wrong? I went to bed really disappointed with me. I taught through everything to see what I did wrong. After, an hour of my wife seeing me like that she said: “Bryan, sometimes things just don’t work out. We need to accept and move on” Those words really comforted me and they are true.

So I learn that wrong things happen and they will not happen only once. The will have several failures in our life. So we need to learn to deal with disappointment.

Now What? I will try to remember that sometimes thing just don’t work out but before accepting that I will work harder than ever to make things right.  

PAST DUE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?

It's for this week already??!!

This past week I felt like the picture on the top of the page. I had big three big project that took 5 to 7 hours each one, 2 essays, 3 midterms next week and the normal daily reading and homework. I felt that I would not have time to do everything. However, I learn three principle that help me to accomplish all that.

1                    .    Don’t sleep once a semester is part of learn

2                    .    Sometimes you will study on weekends

3                    .    Give yourself break so you don’t burnout

Those three principle helped me to understand more that to be full time student is like having a full time job. If you want to be a really good employee and standout from others you will need to work more than normal and sometimes work on weekends. As students it is not different, we need to study on hours that everybody else is playing or watching TV. However, if you don’t plan or leave everything to the last minutes those principle will not work.

NOW WHAT? I will study, plan, and follow those three principles during the end of the semester.  

Are You Protected from Hacks?

WHAT? This week I had a class were we talked about data protection and hacks. I never gave that much importance to computer security and virus because I never had something series happen to my computer. However, during that class we discuss how easy it is to hack computer, IPads, Phones and even cars. That discussion really made me realize that we are really venerable. We read a journal article where the writer sad that today is really easy to get credit card information, steal identity and even enter into the U.S military system and lunch a missile.

SO WHAT? In a world where everything is connected internet. Nobody needs to leave their house to buy, check bank statement or even do groceries. So if someone steal your information they can easily enter in your bank account, change your contracts and open new account in your name.

Now WHAT? I will be more careful when downloading programs and software from the internet and I will scan my computer one a week to see is does have any malware or virus.

General Conference

Today I learned so much from conference, it was amazing. However, my favorite talk was Elder Uchtdorf from the Priesthood section of the conference. He made an analogy between a particular part in the last supper when Christ said that one of the twelve would betrayed him and each of the apostles asked if it was him the one. Elder Uchtdorf taught that we need to be like those apostles and evaluate ourselves. We need to stop judging and looking for flaws in others and start evaluating our own progression in life. As students sometimes we start judging other because of their grades or how participative they are in class. As we start to compare with those student me stop focusing on us and our grades start to decrease. I had an experience like last semester in an economics class. Instead of trying my best on class, my goals was to get a grade better that a friend. I ended the class if a lower grade if I had study.

Another point that I taught from this story is to be open for learning. As the apostle asked “It is me Lord?” They are not only evaluating themselves but also open to learn.  We need to be open to learn new things. Sometimes we are so focus in tradition or the way a particular teacher taught that concept that we do not open our minds to learn a different way to do thing. As student we learn only theories and things should work but in real life never works the way books teach us. Therefore we need to be open to new ideas and form of doing things.

From all this things that I learn from Elder Uchdorf talk I will start comparing me with different student and just start given my best in class. And I will be open to learn new things every day even if it is a new word.

When Challenge Comes, The Time to Prepare is Over

This past week I learn the importance of not just be prepare, but to be EXTREMELY prepare for everything. As most of you know this past Thursday was the STEM Fair. I past the whole week preparing my resume and my "pitch" to see if I could get an interview for an internship. Thursday morning I woke up and dress up for the fair. I was feeling very confident about myself during the fair until I went to talk with Walmart. I start talking to them about my qualities and skills that I have and how I could add values to the internship. But suddenly he cut me and asked with I could do some computer coding. I was surprise with his offer and I accept. He gave me a simple task to just create a code to reverse the word WALMART. When a grab the pencil and mind blanked. I tried to do but I could not remember how to do it. After I few minutes he stop me, I thanking him and left. I felt super disappointed with me the whole day.

 

What? I learned that we need to prepare for everything, I never think “This will not happen to me.”

So What?  As we prepare for career fairs, test, interview, and hard moment in life we will be ready for everything and we will not feel disappointed with ourselves.

Now What? I will prepare more for interview, presentation and test because you never know that they can ask you to do.

Job Interview

Job interview was always a big challenge for me and still is. Since, I came to the US the thing that always made me nervous was to talk in English. I now that to learn a language you need to talk but for me it is a challenge. After a few months in the US my English start to improve and I started to feel confident with it, until I went to my first job interview. It was on Pizza Pie Cafe, I was super prepared, confident and happy for the opportunity. When a sat down with the manager and he start speaking, I felt that he was speaking another language. Even though my interview was super bad I got the job. The next interview that I had was not different, I felt nervous, unprepared, and incompetent for the job.

Today I learn in one of my class how to prepare for a job interview in less than 20 minutes and was super helpful. I did not try those techniques yet but I will try them in my next interview. I know that those technique will not change how I am. However, it will help me and those that get super nervous during a job interview.

1. 1  Already know Your Resume and Me in 30 Seconds
2. 2 Already understand how to answer Behavior-Based Interview Questions
3. 3  Go to Employer’s Web-site -- Do the homework
4. 4  Download the job description, place it side by side with your resume and check for your strengths and weaknesses
5. 5  Find your Inside Contact and ask question about the company and position.
6. 6  Interviewer questions – Asking them for advice
7. 7  Pray Always and Be Believing (Thank You Notes)

I will post how my experience was in a next post so you know if works or not.

What You Reap is What You Sow

I watched this video this week and was really inspiring. One thing that this video teach us is the importance of hard work. Some times when we see people that are relatively successful to us we think that he got there by merely luck. However, we can learn though this video that if we want to be successful in life we need to work hard. Just go to school and do what everybody is doing is not going to makes us special. We need to do different things to be successful like: Student during the time that everyone is going to parties, plan when everyone is watching TV and wake up learn when every one is sleeping. Therefore, success comes with a lot of hard work and discipline

To follow the advice of Michael Jordan I will stop creating excuses. The beginning of this semester a start thinking that the junior core of Information System was super hard. I was planning in dropping the major. However, I notice that it is all excuse to avoid hard work. Therefore, this week and the rest of the semester I will stop complaining and start doing the hard work. Because What You Reap is what you sow.