What I learnt recently #19

Friday 09 November 2012

This past week I attended a 2-day technical seminar, in which I gave a short presentation. Let's rewind about two weeks. I was invited to give a presentation on a case study from my personal work experience in the application of a particular engineering study on a power system. Imagine me saying this while scrunching my nose to shift my glasses a little higher up my face.

My natural response was to decline, given that I don't consider myself an anywhere near expert on the topic by any stretch of the imagination and more importantly I would have to present this to a room full of engineers with much more knowledge and experience than myself. I then remembered a lesson I had learnt sometime ago, and one which I did a blog about: The balance between pushing yourself to do more and saying 'no'. 

I decided to accept the invitation and force myself to learn something. Even if I went down in flames, I would have risen from the ashes re-born like a Phoenix. For a couple weeks, this presentation was bearing heavily down upon me even though I only had about an hour a day to dedicate to its preparation. In giving preparing for, and giving the presentation, I have discovered the  following: 

1. One of the biggest factors in uncertainty that produces fear is the thought of being judged. 
2. Even though I have huge dissatisfaction with my job, I found myself enthusiastically energetic about the field of study I have pursued. This was somewhat unexpected, since I only interact with my field in ways presented to me through my job. But the study of engineering transcends the doldrums of repetitive work, and the seminar has reminded me how much I have yet to learn.
3. Most of the worst case scenarios we play over and over in our mind usually never come to fruition. The action of considering about the worst than can happen only becomes valuable when we realise that even if it does come to pass, the resulting impact on our lives is relatively small.
4. The seminar has re-calibrated how I consider my work and my job. What I got from it was far more significant than I may have contributed.