May 28, 2007

First Strike.. and I'm Out??

Posted by Mr.Keropok

Salsa dancing?? Hip hop dancing?? Well, I didn't get the chance to do either of it over this weekend because last minute I was being activated for work. I had to replace a colleague to conduct a cyber wellness workshop for secondary school students' parents. It was something really jittery for me because it was gonna be the first time for me anchoring a workshop and engaging a group of parents.

Everything went well as catered and I shared my heart out to the parents whom came along. I felt a great sense of relieve on my way back to office that afternoon. When I started flipping through the feedback forms written by the parents, I was tremendously encouraged by what they wrote... until I saw one particular comment which sank my heart. It wrote:

“The 1st speaker should look into the audience as focus instead of staring at the ceiling while speaking/presenting.”

For the next two hours, I was really sad and despondent... constantly thinking about this statement, wondering where did I go wrong and blaming myself for a job went wrong. Somehow, all the good remarks and comments couldn't measure up to this one seemingly devastating feedback! Ironically, isn't that how we always face life? We bask in the rollin' good times and have loads of fun without thinking much. But when one speck of disappointment hits us, we have the tendency to start eating worms and feeling lousy about ourselves! Sigh... the pathetic nature of man...

As I starred at the feedback form once again, I decided to change my perspective. Enough! Instead of getting all sorry and pathetic with myself, I decided to look at this remark as a positive criticism and work on it so I can be better next time round when I conduct the workshop. I won't try to justify whether I looked at the ceiling or not, but taking it with a pinch of salt, I will learn from this experience. Shake off the dust and time to move on!

As I look back now, I am very thankful for the parent whom gave that feedback. Now I know what are the areas I can improve and work on.

First strike... I am down but I am NOT OUT!!

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