Manuela Lucas 

 Reflection – Visualization 

 Challenge 

 I recently graduated from an MBA program specialized in international trade . It seemed a logical step   after studying international relations . The outcomes also seemed logical at first : get a job at a company   that actually exports .   However , there was one tiny mistake in my chain of logical steps : since I was a   kid I always wanted to create . 

 No matter where you looked at my childhood memories or my teenage years , I have always felt the   need to express myself through creative ways such as garment design , furniture design or writing just   to name a few . How could I redirect my career to make it more fulfilling without wasting all those   years that I invested on my education ? 

 Selection 

 I try to look situations as opportunities needed to be found rather than problems encountered . That   is why I chose visualization : I needed to activate my brain in a way that would allow me to envision   different paths for my own future . Visualization is that tool that help us define ideas , feelings -and in   this case , aspirations- to help me gain a better understanding of what path I needed to follow in order   to meet my dreams with the lessons I had already learnt . 

 Application 

 I decided to draw a horizontal line in a blank page : one side of the line was where I was , and I drew a   dot on in saying “ beginning ” , on the opposite side I drew another dot stating : “ My goal : a new   beginning ” . On the first side I started to write down all the different skills that I already acquired   through the years , and on the other side I wrote all the aspirational skills that I longed to have and the   regular activities that I envisioned myself doing every day in a creative job . 

 In the centre of the paper , I wrote a simple question : what kind of possible professional outcomes   does international trade lead to ? Surprisingly enough , there was not a single outcome , but a big branch   of possible applications where a background in international trade was fare more relevant than just   my initial thought of export / import activities . What was even more interesting is the fact that that   question provided a connecting bridge between my two opposite dots . 

 Insight 

 The result of the visualization tool was a career focussed on strategy and innovation , for instance , as   two professional fields where I can express my creativity while my previous experience in international   trade might prove quite handy . It was also very interesting to see what skills of my ideal job failed to   connect with the initial skills I already had , since that pointed to the weaknesses my background had   and also showed an area for improvement . Through courses such as this one , I am filling the gaps to   help me become a better professional in a field that fulfils my creative instinct . 

 Approach 

 Ever since I used the visualization tool , it has also proven to be very useful for the design of my CV . I   make the same exercise with the position I am applying to as my goal . What visualization and design   thinking to a larger extent has taught me is to analyse a problem , or a question without a clear   right / wrong answer , in a wholistic way , so the outcome I present as a solution is far more effective   and is making me a happier worker . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: Manuela Lucas
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Manuela Lucas 

 Reflection – Visualization 

 Challenge 

 I recently graduated from an MBA program specialized in international trade . It seemed a logical step   after studying international relations . The outcomes also seemed logical at first : get a job at a company   that actually exports .   However , there was one tiny mistake in my chain of logical steps : since I was a   kid I always wanted to create . 

 No matter where you looked at my childhood memories or my teenage years , I have always felt the   need to express myself through creative ways such as garment design , furniture design or writing just   to name a few . How could I redirect my career to make it more fulfilling without wasting all those   years that I invested on my education ? 

 Selection 

 I try to look situations as opportunities needed to be found rather than problems encountered . That   is why I chose visualization : I needed to activate my brain in a way that would allow me to envision   different paths for my own future . Visualization is that tool that help us define ideas , feelings -and in   this case , aspirations- to help me gain a better understanding of what path I needed to follow in order   to meet my dreams with the lessons I had already learnt . 

 Application 

 I decided to draw a horizontal line in a blank page : one side of the line was where I was , and I drew a   dot on in saying “ beginning ” , on the opposite side I drew another dot stating : “ My goal : a new   beginning ” . On the first side I started to write down all the different skills that I already acquired   through the years , and on the other side I wrote all the aspirational skills that I longed to have and the   regular activities that I envisioned myself doing every day in a creative job . 

 In the centre of the paper , I wrote a simple question : what kind of possible professional outcomes   does international trade lead to ? Surprisingly enough , there was not a single outcome , but a big branch   of possible applications where a background in international trade was fare more relevant than just   my initial thought of export / import activities . What was even more interesting is the fact that that   question provided a connecting bridge between my two opposite dots . 

 Insight 

 The result of the visualization tool was a career focussed on strategy and innovation , for instance , as   two professional fields where I can express my creativity while my previous experience in international   trade might prove quite handy . It was also very interesting to see what skills of my ideal job failed to   connect with the initial skills I already had , since that pointed to the weaknesses my background had   and also showed an area for improvement . Through courses such as this one , I am filling the gaps to   help me become a better professional in a field that fulfils my creative instinct . 

 Approach 

 Ever since I used the visualization tool , it has also proven to be very useful for the design of my CV . I   make the same exercise with the position I am applying to as my goal . What visualization and design   thinking to a larger extent has taught me is to analyse a problem , or a question without a clear   right / wrong answer , in a wholistic way , so the outcome I present as a solution is far more effective   and is making me a happier worker .
### Output: 