life-changing influence

There are two people who have had a significant influence in my life like. These are my father and my best friend, Timothy. I consider both of them to be my heroes because they helped me to become more enthusiastic about my studies. They also taught me how to live without being fearful especially being fearful of failing.

Particularly during my elementary and junior high school years I was not particularly motivated to excel nor attempted to perform as well as the other students in my classes. This began to change, however, when I met Timothy, my very good friend, during my very first year in high school. He is person who has had an alarming impact on my life and influenced me to change my negative attitude. I now refer to him as my soul mate.

In a number of ways Timothy has helped me to adopt a more positive attitude towards my school work and life in general. Timothy encouraged me to study hard and helped me believe that I could perform as well as or even better than the students who were usually at the top in my class. Prior to meeting Timothy I did not see the value of studying or revising work covered in class.

When I was faced with tests I depended solely on my small recollection of what transpired in class and this prevented me from succeeding or excelling. Timothy taught me to study on a continuous basis not only as it approached exams. He helped me to prepare more effectively for exams by teaching me to study bit by bit prior to the exam rather than just a night or two before. He showed me that by re-reading the material which had been explained in class it would be easier for me to recall information whenever I had a test. Timothy even encouraged me to challenge him on our various tests. Most importantly I remember him saying to me “never give up, before you try first” so I took on the challenge to aim for the skies.

As a result of his influence and encouragement and my heeding his advice, my relative rank in the class improved and so did my interactions with my classmates and friends. My friends started inviting me to study with them as a team. They began to see me as a diligent and clever student and I was accepted into their clique. Finally I began to feel as if I belonged. Even though Timothy and I are now pursuing different educational goals (he chose electrical engineering while I choose business) after having graduated from high school, I will never forget the considerable influence he had in transforming my life.

Besides Timothy, my father has also had a significant influence on my life extends. Prior to knowing Timothy I was not goal-oriented and had little prospects for my future. When I began to see that I could actually be successful I also began to think about a future occupation. My father has been instrumental in helping me to decide on a career. Currently I have chosen to pursue Business administration as my major with a particular interest in entrepreneurship and finance because of the exposure I got to these fields by my father. My father, working in business himself, allowed me to accompany him on several occasions on business trips and I even attended several business conferences and negotiations with him.

The perspective and knowledge I gained from these sessions have encouraged me to choose this same field to pursue as my career goal. Additionally the financial aspect of business administration has particular appeal to me. I had often heard my father discussing Indonesian stocks, such as Telkom, Indosat as well as American stocks, such as Dow Jones. The Stock Exchange is, I believe, a lucrative avenue through which companies can maintain their business and even bring in profits.

In choosing business administration as my major I hope to learn to essentials of managing a business. What I look forward to most is developing my communication skills so that I could become an effective and efficient businessman. Since I plan to operate my own business I hope to learn essential business communication skills such as how to communicate effectively and respectfully in both in written and spoken forms, how to motivate others particularly employees, how to foster good interpersonal relations, how to use various communication tools to assist in carrying out the functions of my future enterprise, the skills of making presentations among other skills that are essential to the proper administration of any business venture.

Besides my father and my personal business interests, my cousin has also inspired and my interest in the business field. Some time ago he delivered an address at an Indonesian University. The title of his presentation was “Simulation Stock Competition.” Listening to his speech encouraged me to enter a university competition that was open for students to invest in the Stock Market. Of course even though the competition was in the form of a simulation and we were not investing with actual money, my interest in the Stock Market was peeked. For the two months I was involved in this program I became exceedingly excited about the strategy of business investment.

Overall both my father and Timothy have motivated me to aspire for greater things. Indeed they both encouraged me to be confident in my own abilities rather than being dependent on my friends. I began to believe that, like my friends who were performing well, I too could become successful and make a significant mark in society.

I am, therefore, fortunate to have had a friend and a father to encourage me to change my perspective and to help me get rid of certain negative attitudes and attributes that were very unprogressive. My vision for my life has now broadened from having absolutely no interest in my future, to being excited about a particular career option and working on fulfilling my goal of becoming a businessman. Barring such influence I may have still been stuck in the rut of mediocrity.