1.

To the user of the workbook

This workbook is meant for students who wish to reach their potential
with proper planning for their prospective career and achievement of
the selected qualification. This workbook will lead you to actively look
at your choices, future and career. You need to understand that
planning and conduct of your academic life will affect your future and
career. The book is a tool for finding your own strengths and
motivation.

The exercises will help you analyze your own actions and give you tips
on how to earn academic progress throughout the qualification. Some
students have a clear view on what they aspire to and what they want,
but for others, the future may seem like a blur. Hopefully this book will
help you gain a clearer view of your future and career.
 2. My goals

Your Qualification is more important when seeking a job, but it is not

the only thing that interests an employer. Employers also expect
competence and strengths from you. Every one of us is unique: we all
have different kinds of strengths, experiences and interests. But it is
important for us to know where we want to go on this path.
List down 3 personal goals that you want to achieve within the period
of course conduct;

1.

2.

3.
When you have set goals for yourself, you have to work hard to achieve
them and finally reach them, your self-respect and satisfaction with life
will increase when you earn your qualification with hard work but not
by any short cuts.

Your choice of field of study was once a specific goal for you. Think back
to the factors that affected your choice. List at least 3 factors.

1.

2.

3.
3. Know yourself
In order to move forward in life, you must first know yourself. You must
stop and think what your values, interests, skills and knowledge are,
and what your personality is like.

3.1 Your skills

You can find potential for learning new skills everywhere. Skills are not
something you only learn in campus. Various skills can be learned
anywhere. The most important thing is to use the skills in your life that
are important to you. All skills can be developed, but it always requires
commitment, self-discipline and effort. You can learn any skill if you are
determined to do so.

 What are your skills?

 Which of your skills would you like to use in your studies?

 How can you further develop your skill?

 What are new skills that you need to acquire for higher studies?
3.2 Your values
Perceiving your own skills is often easier than answering a question on
what your values are. Values can be individual but also communal.
Understanding your own values will help you see what motivates you in
your studies, life and work. Ask yourself: what do I really value, what
motivates me in my life and why is this important to me?

Write down 3 values that you may need while you are studying for this
qualification?
1.

2.

3.

Why do you think it is important to have above values while you are
excelling yourself in studies?
3.3 Your personality
Your personality shows in, for example, the way you behave with other
people and in different surroundings and how you present yourself. The
better you know yourself, the easier it will be for you to examine your
personality.

Think of the most apt, interesting and surprising statements that

someone has made about your personality.
 What is the most appropriate thing?

 What is the most Interesting thing?

 What is the most surprising thing?

How do you perceive your own personality?

3.4 Your external factors
Our future, decisions and career are also affected by external factors,
including family, friends, hobbies, the media, online contacts, financial
situation, work and life experience, the labour market situation and
various events.

Which external factors have affected your choice of study subject? Why
and how?

Which external factors do you expect to affect your prospective

studied? Why and how?

How do you plan to develop your relationship network with regard to

your prospective career?
Draw your own life line and mark down your studies, hobbies, work
experience, positions of trust, voluntary work, special occasions and
features of your life, etc.
Think back on everything that you have been involved in and that has
had significance in your own life. Next, assess and reflect upon the
following issues with regard to your life line:

What have you learned? What skills and qualities did a specific period
teach you?

What are the things that inspired and interested you? What has been
especially important to you? Why? How have your personal
characteristics developed?

In what kinds of surroundings are you at your best?

 4. Identify the hazards

4.1 In your studies

In various surveys and queries, the following have come up among the
causes of a lost grip on studies:
o difficulty with finishing tasks that require initiative

o too little planning of studies

o absence

o paid work at the same time

o excessive use of alcohol

o negative attitude towards oneself

o too little exercise

o lack of peer support

o Laziness (Note! Creative laziness, by contrast, can be beneficial.)

o human relationships

o lack of motivation and skills for studying

o mental well-being

List down what are the causes for you on a lost grip on studies?
Once you become aware of the causes of your loss of grip on your
studies, stop and think of ways to prevent it. In the following, lists down
a couple of ways for seeking help for the advancement of studies:

1.

2.

3.

All learning is based on personal relevance: what do I want, what am I

aiming at and what am I pursuing? A common argument is that
everyone, people of all ages, are able to learn basically anything – often
even 5–20 times faster than normal and 10–100 times more efficiently
than commonly believed.

The essential factor is how to learn. One must aim to use all senses
when learning. Stress impedes learning, so try to avoid it.
4.2 In your time management
Is it difficult for you to plan your studies and manage time? Do you have
time for your hobbies, friends and family? Can you find the time to do
everything that you want to? Your time management is in your own
hands – you make your own choices on what to use your time on –
either something useful or useless. You must find the time to study if
you wish to graduate.

Find out what your time is spent on. Monitor your use of time every
day for a week. Write down what your time is used on for each half an
hour.

How much time do you spend on sleeping, cooking and eating,

housework, morning and evening activities, studying at home and at
lectures and leisure activities?
If you are not satisfied with your time management based on such
monitoring, think of ways to improve it. Prepare a plan for your use of
time in the upcoming months. Set concrete goals!

If laziness prevents you from advancing, make a decision to start by

studying for 10-15 minutes at a time. If this does not work, take a
moment to rest and try again.
4.3 In your decisions
Sometimes it is difficult to make decisions. It is hard to take the next
step when you are not sure where it will lead. You are either unable to
make a decision or lack the courage to do so. This can be interpreted as
laziness, but sometimes pure laziness may also prevent you from
making decisions.

What is your next step in studies?

When do you want to start it?

It is usually easier for you to make decisions when you understand the
kinds of trouble that you may get into.

What will stop you in achieving what you want?

How you may get ready in overcoming these troubles?

Everyone can change their way of acting as long as they are determined
to change their way of thinking. Choices and decisions always arise
from thoughts and thoughts induce actions. Your way of thinking is
decisive in whether you will be able to move forward or get stuck.
Make yourself think that you can succeed and hold on to this attitude.
Never give up – overcome yourself and move forward!
It is important to realize that decisions can be made in different ways in
different situations. Below you can see one suggestion for identifying
four different ways of making decisions.
1 Rational
The decision is made by using a logical and structured approach. As an
aid, you can utilize the SWOT analysis, for example, where a four-field
table is used to chart strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Strengths Weaknesses

Opportunities Threats

2 Intuitive
The decision is made based on emotions and intuition. It is made
according to what feels right and not based on what would be rational.

3 Evasive
Decision-making is avoided or delayed, as there is no feel of certainty
about whether the decision is right or not. Delaying may either be a
negative or positive decision for you. Sometimes it is wise to wait for a
decision.

4 Spontaneous
A decision made on impulse may be a good one, especially when not
related to plans for the future.
5. Know your potential

5.1 Your personal qualities

Consider your options and what your hopes for the future studies and
career are. When planning your career, answer the following questions:

What are your positive sides and characteristics?

How have they been evident in your studies and work?

Which of your qualities would you hope to develop and which would
you prefer to give up altogether? Why?
5.2 Your experiences of joy and success

What kinds of experiences of joy and success have you had in your
studies and work?

What kinds of experiences of joy and success you want to have in your
future studies and work?

What have you learned through your hobbies or life in general? Can
they be utilized in your prospective work?
5.3 Your hopes regarding working life

What do you hope for from your work?

What kinds of jobs do you plan to apply for after graduation?

What kind of competence you are planning to accumulate by earning

this qualification which will support in finding a job?
5.4 Your education and training

What kind of education and training you plan to acquire?

What kind of competence you need to gain from us?

Are you planning to seek further education? If so, what would you like
to apply to?

If your work and education-related plans do not materialize right away,

what are your alternative plans?
5.5 Your dream job
Picture your dream job. Then write a story with the title “A day in my
dream job.”
Once you have finished the story, answer the following questions:

What inspires and motivates you in your dream job?

Which tasks are most important?

Which skills do you especially wish to use? (Organizational skills,

decision-making skills, human relations skills, written expression,
performance skills, friendliness, initiative, deliberation skills, analytical
skills, etc.)

How does your competence support you getting your dream job?

What is your desired working environment like?

6. From failure to success
Failure must be turned into an opportunity. Learn to appreciate it: a
failure could take you to success. Consider a setback as something that
will take you closer to the final goal. If you are unable to learn to fail,
you may not get new opportunities. A failure is not an encouragement
to feeling ashamed or guilty, but to learning. You can often learn more
from unexpected outcomes than the ones that go according to plan.

In order to be a winner, you must try again and again, even if you failed
last time, and even the time before that. For each new attempt, you will
have gathered more experience, more knowledge and more
determination.

Each failure adds to your potential to succeed. It would be a shame for

you to stop trying and to quit just when you are starting to approach
the finishing line. Each day, you will learn through each attempt and
simultaneously gain more skills. The reward may be closer than you
think. Try and believe it: you are about to become a winner.