As a child, I had to constantly keep changing my schools after every two years as my father served in the armed forces. After every two years, we had to shift to a new place, new school, new people, new neighborhood, etc. Of course it was a great opportunity to meet and interact with people of diverse backgrounds, but it was challenging at the same time. I had to start everything all over again in each place. In school, I had to adjust to the new curriculum, had to keep making new friends every two years and then adapting to the new environment was quite tough. However I kept pushing myself to focus on self-improvement by participating in a number of competitions like elocution, essay writing, sports, quizzes, etc. and then adjusting to the new atmosphere became a cakewalk.
At my workplace, as I was working with the support/ maintenance team, I had to work in shifts and so sometimes I was the only one to take care of any tickets received on behalf of the team. In one such incident, there was a technical glitch with the Remedy tool because of which we were on the verge of missing an SLA. That would have led to a penalty. But I promptly responded and informed the coding team. This saved our day. Though I was new to the team then, right action taken at the right time by coordinating with other team members helped.
I still had little fear of public speaking when I joined MBA. So I joined TAPMI Toastmasters to overcome it. I took it as a challenge to become proficient in public speaking. I actively participated in this public speaking platform. Slowly I was able to overcome this fear. Now in the second year, I feel much more confident about myself and do not hesitate to speak in front of a crowd.
Sneha Malle
T. A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal
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