It's Okay if You Feel Overwhelmed Right Now

October 19th, 2020

Over the past week in ISM, I have developed my professional voicemail, have learned how to leave a professional voice message, and have written an email draft for contacting professionals. In developing my professional voicemail, I realized that the more I practice and rehearse it, the more confidence I gain. In learning how to leave a professional voice message, I realized the value of being professional in any setting: it’s a display of your attitude toward your job, your company, and whatever else you may want to pursue. Lastly, by writing an email draft to use for contacting professionals, I have learned what you should and shouldn’t say, and how to write with the intent of getting a response, landing an interview, or displaying my professionalism.

As a result of what I’ve learned, the only question that’s arisen, as far as I can think of, is how to mentally prepare myself for sending these emails, and talking on the phone with those professionals. With an email, it’s a little less stressful because I’m not having to physically communicate with anyone; I just need to make sure I have the right format and my intent is being shown: I want to get a response and schedule and interview. On the other hand, talking on the phone isn’t something I’m super comfortable or confident about. And granted that I’m also an introvert, I find it hard to represent myself in phone conversation because I’m shy and that courage is lacking. As a result of this, I’ve been stressed the past week, and will probably continue to be stressed out during this week. But I know that if I can just mentally prepare myself and remind myself that I can do this, I’ll be okay in the end.

Some challenges that I’ve faced during the past week were developing my script for the voicemail, voice message, and email, as well as managing my time to make sure that I completed all of my school assignments efficiently, without leaving things for the very last minute. As I mentioned earlier, because I’m an introvert, I’ve always been quite lacking in courage, confidence, and comfortability when talking to others. But I realized that in order to be successful in scheduling those interviews and talking to professionals, I had to put my stress to the side, and focus on gaining that self-confidence. So I did just that. I wrote my scripts for the voicemail, voice message, and email, as well as for when I have to talk to a receptionist or the CPA themself. By writing it out, and rehearsing it in my head, as well as with my parents and siblings, I was able to feel a little better about the process as a whole. However, as I mentioned earlier, it was hard for me to successfully complete assignments and study for each of my classes, without procrastinating. This in turn left me feeling overwhelmed for the past week, and made me feel as though everything was impossible because it was too much to handle. Was I able to complete all of my work? Yes. But I was as efficient as I could have been? Probably not. I often found myself rushing late in the night or early in the morning just to make sure that my work was getting done, and that is accurate and perfect. This wasn’t a fun feeling, so I now know for the rest of the school year that I will work on better managing my time, and giving an equal amount of effort to each of my classes.

In doing those things that I mentioned above, I was able to be successful in developing my script for each of those professional contacting methods, and was able to focus on my other classes at the same, without the feeling of being overwhelmed weighing me down. Although writing those scripts helped me feel a little better about contacting the professionals, it didn’t necessarily mean that I was oozing with self-confidence and courage. I was still pretty scared, and still am pretty nervous, but I pushed those feelings of self-doubt and anxiousness to the back of my mind so I could focus on what’s important: being successful with my interviews, and focusing on my other classes at the same time without falling behind. In terms of dedicating time to each of my classes afterwards, I was also able to be successful in that. Granted I probably could have and should have dedicated more time to each of them individually, I was still able to get all of my assignments done in a timely manner, so I would say I was pretty successful in that.

In the next week, I need to work on being confident when I talk to these professionals via email and phone, both so I can get a response and so that I can schedule meetings with them to begin expanding my knowledge of the field of accounting, as well as to start learning about what it’s like being a CPA on the daily. Mr.Pirtle told us that we need to be prepared (for this week) to leave a professional voice message, to speak with a receptionist or office manager, and to be able to attempt to schedule a phone or Zoom interview. And because I’ve already developed scripts for each of those things, I feel better prepared and less overwhelmed, leading me to be a bit more successful when I actually do those things. Working on my confidence is something that comes with mentally preparing myself to talk on the phone or through email, and so by doing things like practicing and rehearsing what I would say, as well as taking some time to watch TV, play video games, or spend time with my family, I’m able to feel more confident and less stressed in the long run.

To conclude this, I would like to say that in developing my scripts and working on my other classes, I want to see if I can find the method that best works for me. Like how can I be successful in ISM without falling behind in other classes? And what are the key things that will help me land those interviews and meetings, so that I can begin the study part of my ISM journey (by finding a mentor)? If I can figure these things out, I will be more successful in the long run, both in ISM and my other classes.