Two months ago I took the Dale Carnegie course- Skills for Success. I took the initiatives to enroll in this course as at that point of time I believed I was a dork and an introvert loner with no appeal. My main goal is to improve my self-confidence and communication skills, not just in my workplace but also in my personal life.
My first day of the training, I was very worried and nervous about meeting new people.
Somehow, all my worries seemed to be invalid. All the people I met and the trainers were very friendly and it made the session fun. I should have applied the principles of managing worry and stress back then (if only I knew)
So these were what happened during the 8 weeks. We learned the principles of 5 Drivers of Success, self-confidence, people skills, communication, leadership, and managing worry and stress.
First, I have practiced the principles in my daily activities. This is quite tough for me as some of the principles require me to go out of my comfort zone and face my fear, especially in communicating with others (the worst one will be giving compliments as some people become really suspicious for that)
Then I need to stand in front of the audience and deliver a short talk under a time frame- usually around 90 seconds. I get to hear other people's experiences and knows that I was not alone.
The participants are also required to have an Application Project. Mine was to introduce a non-target segment for a credit card where the objective is to increase the revenue. The project is still at the initial stage, however, I managed to secure relevant stakeholder's approval to proceed with the initial stage. I am proud to say that I applied most of Dale Carnegie's Human Relationship Principles.
After 8 weeks, I can say that it changed my life, although not completely. I still need to make the principles as a habit even though I am not attending the class anymore.
I have emerged as a more confident person, with better communications skills and I have improved my abilities to impress someone in a very effective manner.
Overall, I would recommend this training to everyone. And the lessons learned, when practiced in real life every time, remain relevant years later (quoted from Akash Gura)
Your Sincere Dork,
Norzaila Era Zakaria