A series about the ways I work towards being cognizant through decisions that make me more mentally engaged with various facets of my day-to-day life.
Cognizance (noun): Awareness, realization, notice, knowledge, perception.
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At the end of June, I completed two more courses in my GDB program: finance and marketing.
Marketing was straightforward and theoretical. Finance, though? A wild ride.
A wild ride, indeed. Hence, the feature image of this post is a mimosa. Gotta’ give yourself a break here and there whether it is a mimosa or a nap. I opted for both.
Nevertheless, I did learn something from my turbulent month of June.
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Marketing: Variety is the spice of life!… To a point.
When you, as an organization, extend your line of product offerings, you afford your consumers more choice and options. This can be good!
However, over-extending your offerings might dilute your brand and leave consumers overwhelmed. I have found that this same idea applies outside of marketing as well.
I feel like, in my studies and career considerations, I’ve over-extended myself by keeping so many options open that I haven’t been able to refine and improve any one of them in a significant way. Much of my summer has been spent re-evaluating my “products” (career options) and making decisions about what I want to put more energy into so that I can create something of substance and value for myself.
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Finance: Is hard. Also, I can figure out my monthly mortgage payments when necessary.
Honestly, the biggest takeaway from my finance course is that I made it out the other side.
I also learned that when I am overwhelmed and anxious about not understanding something, I have a tendency to shut down and not ask for help when I need it most.
My desire to understand something more fully before I ask questions was probably my biggest hindrance and cost me a lot of possible learning opportunities throughout the course.
When it came down to crunch time, though, and after receiving valuable feedback from my team, I asked questions while studying and did not crumble during the final exam! I definitely needed at least 45 more minutes, but I did see a shift in my comfort with the material when I allowed myself to be vulnerable and ask for help when I was lost.
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I’ll check back soon and let you know how my next module pans out.
In a Tizzy 
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