Introduction
Few years ago, about 9 years, I heard that my direct manager, that time, holds an MBA certificate. That manager was very well organized and you could learn a lot from him. I liked my manager, like everybody else, and I was fan of his communication style. This might reflected an internal desire of me to study MBA, but that time was a time for the technical learning skills of my career.
3 years later, my company offered MBA study loans for specific employees that were selected by their managers, my name was not included in the list, till one of the listed colleagues had left the company, this time I was asked, by that manager, if I want to be included in the list, I said a big YES.
Accepting my company offer needed a signed commitment to pay a ratio of fees after completing MBA, and to stay working in the company for not less than 5 years from the date after achieving the certificate, otherwise, In case I want to leave earlier, I should pay the whole fees, also another condition that work should not be affected anymore by study.
Barriers and reactions to them
- Application Barriers
-Financial Barriers
-Time and Commitment Barriers
Application Barriers
To enroll in an MBA I found that I had to get a minimum score for TOEFL exam and a ‘Good’ as a minimum undergraduate degree.
For TOEFL study, I got help from my friends, who have been passed the exam, about having study books and CDs. For selecting my date of exam in Amid-East, I could hardly select it due to workload and other non-work responsibilities, and then I studied but, unfortunately, I could not beat time down, and I failed to achieve the minimum required score that it was needed just 3 extra points to pass.
Later, I could re-register in the academy TOEFL exam and I could studied this time hard and nothing kept for external circumstances because of being away from my work daily tasks as I toke a short vacation from work to study, so I got a score higher than the minimum required, it was my first ‘time management’ lesson learned (but this time I was doing one task not organizing all tasks).
For minimum GPA, unfortunately, I was not that good student. I had just ‘Pass’, then I had to enroll in a diploma program first. My acceptance to that change did not need any thinking because it was the only chance for ‘Pass’ graduates to have an MBA.
To select a place from ‘Sheraton’ or ‘weekdays’ as the location and as a result the time of my classes; it was easy as it is near to my workplace in ‘Nasr City’ and my class will start after I finish work by one hour.
After achieving my project management diploma, I heard that an new regulation has been added for an MBA registration, it was a regulation to get an AMAT exam score as a minimum, and I was asked to register and to select a specific date from some available dates for the exam, at this time as a result of what I have learned from a whole academic year of project management diploma and from building my awareness about my company policies and procedures and also the academy’s regulations, I had lot of experiences that allowed me to manage myself and time to get a high score far from the minimum required score.
Financial Barriers
Nowadays, I am saving an amount of money in a monthly basis in order to be able to pay my study fees and to leave company whenever I get an attractive job opportunity, otherwise I should stay working in my company for extra 5 years and sacrifice a good opportunity.
Time and Commitment Barriers
On the pursuit of my diploma, I knew about my company policies concerning study and study leaves and I began to make benefit from it for my study.
- Managing my time among work, study, family and social activities let me assign a specific time needed for work as my first priority in normal case, and having a good negotiation style allows me to get my manager’s acceptance for my projects plans (that I plan my work to be harmonized with my study).
Also, what gives me a great flexibility to leave in time and to be able to achieve work remotely is making good communications with various company levels, super ordinates, peers and subordinates.
- Assigning a time to study as second priority, but first when it is time for an exam, is allowing me to study my taken chapters and even reading about next lessons which gives me a good participation attitude and asking smart questions in class to when I have fair background about lesson.
- Assigning a time for family, as there are some duties must be done for my family persons, like when my wife was pregnant, I needed a time to visit her doctor and when it is the delivering time, a long time was needed in hospital and for taking care of baby’s birth certificate and his vaccines and the beyond bearing long nights of baby crying was to be considered, also when my son broke his hand twice in two months, I had to have a time to visit his doctor, scanning labs and finally more time for physical therapy’s days and that car accident, it is me this time, I had to be in bed for two months, it was a major change in my MBA, I was asked to select an incomplete exam result with a maximum ‘B’ grade in my current two courses or to try to study at home without attending the lectures. Of course I selected the second solution, I could have a long leave period from work, I read in courses books, browsed internet, read photocopied lectures and courses materials and got help from some of my best MBA colleagues and studied very hard, this time I was a little bit off, no duties for family, some work troubleshooting, I postponed one exam for one week and toke the other in time, finally, I could get ‘A’ and ‘A-‘ grades in my two exams, it was a great surprise for all, myself, my two professors and even my colleagues who knew about my grade, I telephoned my professor for thanking him as I considered that it was as a favor from him because of my bad circumstances, I was pleased and surprised that he told me that it was my right as my answers were the best among my collogues and also he told me that he was talking about my story to his new students.
In the next two courses I was also being asked to select to attend every lecture or to postpone for 6 months, my answer, with no doubt, was I will attend the lectures in time, in spite of it was difficult to move specially when I am using two crutches and have to wait for someone to drive me to academy.
Now I am attending the lectures in time and I made with my group a good presentation after our meeting at my home in order to finish our group assignment and also I am writing these papers as my individual assignment.
- Assigning a time for social life like neighbors, friends, bigger family, other social activities and other people who are important to me was my last priority setting, as I made it very short time and I was doing these social activities in my leisure time but I first illustrated for all these people that it is just a couple of years and everything will go back like usual. Also I have learned that making a telephone call rather than a physical meeting was so helpful in this case.
During re-arranging my priorities, putting my work projects plans in harmony with my study plans and re-arranging people I know in an importance order, I recognized how is the value of a minute in work, academy, home and every place, in every minute I have to decide to go one step up or one step down. Then I could make, for some degree, an integrated, practical and achievable plan that made my work tasks, study and assignments more achievable, and also, after that, I had a time for family’s responsibilities and a smaller time for people who are very important to me.
Motivation
Learning from various study and internet resources is helpful for me to find my motive to bypass any barrier denying me from going ahead into my career path as I read that people are classified into three classes according to their motives,
I. Those motivated by career enhancement are significantly more discouraged by financial barriers than they are by application barriers.
II. Those motivated by career switching are significantly discouraged by all barriers—application, financial, and time.
III. Those motivated by personal development are significantly more discouraged by application barriers and are less likely to be currently enrolled in an MBA program.
I found myself in (class II) as I have the desire to switch my career to be in the project management direction therefore I can overcome any barrier I face.
Setting my goals is also one of my motives.
What are added values after achieving my project management diploma?
-Now, and after achieving my project management diploma, I look at same things I dealt with before, like people, time and money as resources that need to be well utilized, well organized and to be put in the right place in order to do the right things and to achieve qualified products.
My sons are my family products I am responsible for, my work tasks are my work products, and my assignments also are my academy products.
All my products must have a quality and this quality must have standards.
-My sons have to have values in life, ethics in dealing with others, well learning skills when doing their homework and good personal skills when dealing with their teachers and friends in school, club and family.
- My assignments must reflect a deep insight, how I worked hard, how many references I used and must give untraditional way of thinking and solutions, also my exams answers sheets should.
- My work tasks and projects must be completed with zero errors, documented, and must used for myself as references and lessons learned.
- I, myself, must be well organized in arranging priorities, have a peace of mind in my way of thinking, have personal skills when dealing with others in various locations, have values in life when deciding what is right and what is wrong, have ethics in dealing with resources, and have my own standards to send and receive things from others.
Deciding what I do next
I will begin to make a practical plan for a balanced life and will consider all resources to use and all products to be delivered and all delivery times in each part of my life, this plan will be in its final aspect when I switch back to work, after recovery, in sha’a Allah, and finding new recourses and products in my work after this long vacation.
Here are my steps to have a practical plan for a balanced life:
1. I will identify what needs/goals to be done.
2. I will define when I will reach each goal.
3. I will explore possible paths to reach each goal.
4. I will prioritize the activities along the path I have chosen to reach each goal.
5. I will consider the two concepts ‘KIS/KIF’ Keep it Simple, Keep it Flexible.
6. I will evaluate my plan, on weekly basis, to track progress.
7. I will keep pushing toward the target date.
8. I will close it out, evaluate where my plan was successful, indentify where my plan was not successful and make that the goal of my next plan.
Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about my ideal future, and for motivating me to turn this vision of the future into reality.
SMART Goal settings:
-S Specific
-M Measurable
-A Attainable
-R Relevant
-T Time Related
Important areas in my life
1. Attitude: I set goals to improve my behavior. From my study, I know that attitude has to be changed by changing beliefs which have to be changed by changing thoughts.
2. Career: I set goals to reach the level I want in my career. Technical, human and conceptual skills in career management level.
3. Education: I set the knowledge I want to acquire. The information and skills I need to achieve other goals.
4. Family: I set how I am going to be a good father. I set how I want to be seen by a partner or by members of my big family.
5. Financial: I set how much I want to earn by what stage.
6. Physical: I set athletic goals I want to achieve, as I want a good health when I am in old age. I set steps I am going to take to achieve this.
7. Pleasure: I set how I want to enjoy myself.
8. Public Service: I set how to make my world a better place. Like helping other who need to learn how to use crutches.
My Principles of life
I will work to minimize loss and maximize profit, for me and for all my stakeholders, which means best use of resources to achieve products with my standard quality that matches other peer’s quality and exceeds.
I will make use of what I have learned, not to be kept in book shelves covered by ash, but to be applied in my way of using available resources and achieving qualified products.
I will keep in mind, to a great extent, the value of time as it is a part of my own ‘meter * meter’ personal area that needs to be under my control and I will decide on this area, and will not allow anybody else to decide on this area on behalf of me.
Resources
- My study in AASGB- Project Management Diploma.
- My study in AASGB- Contemporary Management Trends.
- Internet
- Application Barriers
-Financial Barriers
-Time and Commitment Barriers
Application Barriers
To enroll in an MBA I found that I had to get a minimum score for TOEFL exam and a ‘Good’ as a minimum undergraduate degree.
For TOEFL study, I got help from my friends, who have been passed the exam, about having study books and CDs. For selecting my date of exam in Amid-East, I could hardly select it due to workload and other non-work responsibilities, and then I studied but, unfortunately, I could not beat time down, and I failed to achieve the minimum required score that it was needed just 3 extra points to pass.
Later, I could re-register in the academy TOEFL exam and I could studied this time hard and nothing kept for external circumstances because of being away from my work daily tasks as I toke a short vacation from work to study, so I got a score higher than the minimum required, it was my first ‘time management’ lesson learned (but this time I was doing one task not organizing all tasks).
For minimum GPA, unfortunately, I was not that good student. I had just ‘Pass’, then I had to enroll in a diploma program first. My acceptance to that change did not need any thinking because it was the only chance for ‘Pass’ graduates to have an MBA.
To select a place from ‘Sheraton’ or ‘weekdays’ as the location and as a result the time of my classes; it was easy as it is near to my workplace in ‘Nasr City’ and my class will start after I finish work by one hour.
After achieving my project management diploma, I heard that an new regulation has been added for an MBA registration, it was a regulation to get an AMAT exam score as a minimum, and I was asked to register and to select a specific date from some available dates for the exam, at this time as a result of what I have learned from a whole academic year of project management diploma and from building my awareness about my company policies and procedures and also the academy’s regulations, I had lot of experiences that allowed me to manage myself and time to get a high score far from the minimum required score.
Financial Barriers
Nowadays, I am saving an amount of money in a monthly basis in order to be able to pay my study fees and to leave company whenever I get an attractive job opportunity, otherwise I should stay working in my company for extra 5 years and sacrifice a good opportunity.
Time and Commitment Barriers
On the pursuit of my diploma, I knew about my company policies concerning study and study leaves and I began to make benefit from it for my study.
- Managing my time among work, study, family and social activities let me assign a specific time needed for work as my first priority in normal case, and having a good negotiation style allows me to get my manager’s acceptance for my projects plans (that I plan my work to be harmonized with my study).
Also, what gives me a great flexibility to leave in time and to be able to achieve work remotely is making good communications with various company levels, super ordinates, peers and subordinates.
- Assigning a time to study as second priority, but first when it is time for an exam, is allowing me to study my taken chapters and even reading about next lessons which gives me a good participation attitude and asking smart questions in class to when I have fair background about lesson.
- Assigning a time for family, as there are some duties must be done for my family persons, like when my wife was pregnant, I needed a time to visit her doctor and when it is the delivering time, a long time was needed in hospital and for taking care of baby’s birth certificate and his vaccines and the beyond bearing long nights of baby crying was to be considered, also when my son broke his hand twice in two months, I had to have a time to visit his doctor, scanning labs and finally more time for physical therapy’s days and that car accident, it is me this time, I had to be in bed for two months, it was a major change in my MBA, I was asked to select an incomplete exam result with a maximum ‘B’ grade in my current two courses or to try to study at home without attending the lectures. Of course I selected the second solution, I could have a long leave period from work, I read in courses books, browsed internet, read photocopied lectures and courses materials and got help from some of my best MBA colleagues and studied very hard, this time I was a little bit off, no duties for family, some work troubleshooting, I postponed one exam for one week and toke the other in time, finally, I could get ‘A’ and ‘A-‘ grades in my two exams, it was a great surprise for all, myself, my two professors and even my colleagues who knew about my grade, I telephoned my professor for thanking him as I considered that it was as a favor from him because of my bad circumstances, I was pleased and surprised that he told me that it was my right as my answers were the best among my collogues and also he told me that he was talking about my story to his new students.
In the next two courses I was also being asked to select to attend every lecture or to postpone for 6 months, my answer, with no doubt, was I will attend the lectures in time, in spite of it was difficult to move specially when I am using two crutches and have to wait for someone to drive me to academy.
Now I am attending the lectures in time and I made with my group a good presentation after our meeting at my home in order to finish our group assignment and also I am writing these papers as my individual assignment.
- Assigning a time for social life like neighbors, friends, bigger family, other social activities and other people who are important to me was my last priority setting, as I made it very short time and I was doing these social activities in my leisure time but I first illustrated for all these people that it is just a couple of years and everything will go back like usual. Also I have learned that making a telephone call rather than a physical meeting was so helpful in this case.
During re-arranging my priorities, putting my work projects plans in harmony with my study plans and re-arranging people I know in an importance order, I recognized how is the value of a minute in work, academy, home and every place, in every minute I have to decide to go one step up or one step down. Then I could make, for some degree, an integrated, practical and achievable plan that made my work tasks, study and assignments more achievable, and also, after that, I had a time for family’s responsibilities and a smaller time for people who are very important to me.
Motivation
Learning from various study and internet resources is helpful for me to find my motive to bypass any barrier denying me from going ahead into my career path as I read that people are classified into three classes according to their motives,
I. Those motivated by career enhancement are significantly more discouraged by financial barriers than they are by application barriers.
II. Those motivated by career switching are significantly discouraged by all barriers—application, financial, and time.
III. Those motivated by personal development are significantly more discouraged by application barriers and are less likely to be currently enrolled in an MBA program.
I found myself in (class II) as I have the desire to switch my career to be in the project management direction therefore I can overcome any barrier I face.
Setting my goals is also one of my motives.
What are added values after achieving my project management diploma?
-Now, and after achieving my project management diploma, I look at same things I dealt with before, like people, time and money as resources that need to be well utilized, well organized and to be put in the right place in order to do the right things and to achieve qualified products.
My sons are my family products I am responsible for, my work tasks are my work products, and my assignments also are my academy products.
All my products must have a quality and this quality must have standards.
-My sons have to have values in life, ethics in dealing with others, well learning skills when doing their homework and good personal skills when dealing with their teachers and friends in school, club and family.
- My assignments must reflect a deep insight, how I worked hard, how many references I used and must give untraditional way of thinking and solutions, also my exams answers sheets should.
- My work tasks and projects must be completed with zero errors, documented, and must used for myself as references and lessons learned.
- I, myself, must be well organized in arranging priorities, have a peace of mind in my way of thinking, have personal skills when dealing with others in various locations, have values in life when deciding what is right and what is wrong, have ethics in dealing with resources, and have my own standards to send and receive things from others.
Deciding what I do next
I will begin to make a practical plan for a balanced life and will consider all resources to use and all products to be delivered and all delivery times in each part of my life, this plan will be in its final aspect when I switch back to work, after recovery, in sha’a Allah, and finding new recourses and products in my work after this long vacation.
Here are my steps to have a practical plan for a balanced life:
1. I will identify what needs/goals to be done.
2. I will define when I will reach each goal.
3. I will explore possible paths to reach each goal.
4. I will prioritize the activities along the path I have chosen to reach each goal.
5. I will consider the two concepts ‘KIS/KIF’ Keep it Simple, Keep it Flexible.
6. I will evaluate my plan, on weekly basis, to track progress.
7. I will keep pushing toward the target date.
8. I will close it out, evaluate where my plan was successful, indentify where my plan was not successful and make that the goal of my next plan.
Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about my ideal future, and for motivating me to turn this vision of the future into reality.
SMART Goal settings:
-S Specific
-M Measurable
-A Attainable
-R Relevant
-T Time Related
Important areas in my life
1. Attitude: I set goals to improve my behavior. From my study, I know that attitude has to be changed by changing beliefs which have to be changed by changing thoughts.
2. Career: I set goals to reach the level I want in my career. Technical, human and conceptual skills in career management level.
3. Education: I set the knowledge I want to acquire. The information and skills I need to achieve other goals.
4. Family: I set how I am going to be a good father. I set how I want to be seen by a partner or by members of my big family.
5. Financial: I set how much I want to earn by what stage.
6. Physical: I set athletic goals I want to achieve, as I want a good health when I am in old age. I set steps I am going to take to achieve this.
7. Pleasure: I set how I want to enjoy myself.
8. Public Service: I set how to make my world a better place. Like helping other who need to learn how to use crutches.
My Principles of life
I will work to minimize loss and maximize profit, for me and for all my stakeholders, which means best use of resources to achieve products with my standard quality that matches other peer’s quality and exceeds.
I will make use of what I have learned, not to be kept in book shelves covered by ash, but to be applied in my way of using available resources and achieving qualified products.
I will keep in mind, to a great extent, the value of time as it is a part of my own ‘meter * meter’ personal area that needs to be under my control and I will decide on this area, and will not allow anybody else to decide on this area on behalf of me.
Resources
- My study in AASGB- Project Management Diploma.
- My study in AASGB- Contemporary Management Trends.
- Internet
