Who here has watched Shark Tank or Dragon’s Den? If you have, congratulations, if not, it’s a TV show where people pitch their business ideas and products to a panel of potential investors.
It has led to many funny moments such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aql9pQ1hMwk

This project was a lot like that, but instead of a product, I was pitching myself,

I learned a lot about myself, and I think a lot of these lessons are important. Giving myself room for errors, and the room to grow meant my work was better, even though I missed several days of classes due to the Whistler Trip, and fatigue from 5 days of early mornings meant I effectively missed 4-5 days of work. I was tired, but giving myself time to sleep (at home, not in class) was really important to ensuring I can do my best work.

This project where we reflected on ourselves went much better than the last for me, because I was able to show I can grow as a person while still having confidence in myself.

I think I could do better if given another chance, but I’m very happy with how I did.

The human brain is an amazing thing, it can work under pressure, with minimal amounts of sleep, etc, and during this project, I pushed it to the absolute limit just to catch up with what I’d missed because of the Seycove music retreat.

I think that I didn’t realize just how many positive traits and accomplishments I had before this project. While I’d done the actions, not thinking about them in the sense of pitching myself hadn’t made them seem important to me. I think that reflecting on what I’ve done and who I am is something I need to do more in my life, and I think this project really helped me with that.

The self assessment work that we did in class was interesting because it showed me career pathways that suited my skills, such as Horologist, Fisherman, Dancer, and Musician. Despite those being a very diverse set of careers, they all involve having good coordination, the ability to understand complex situations, as well as working with a team.

These surveys weren’t only about jobs, they also told us about how we like to work and what skills we have. The surveys reinforced what I already knew: I like working with my hands, and I like work where I have to hold myself responsible.

Pitching myself to the dragons who came in to watch us was scary, but I think that it was really useful because it gave me some very informative lessons on performing for people. I think the most important thing for me to remember in the future is that the dragons/interviewers are human too, and that they have probably been in the same scenario you’ve been in at some point. Most of the other lessons were basic presentation tips; I.e. don’t pace too much, make eye contact with the people you’re speaking to, etc.

I think another thing I learned from the dragons is that I need to communicate my goals better. During my pitch, I was very confident through the other parts, but the goals themselves needed more thought put towards them. Goals have never been a strong suit of mine, so knowing that’s something I need to improve, and how to do it, is extremely valuable.

Thanks for reading