Top 4 Do’s and Don’ts for first year MBA participants

Normally to be able to survive the first few months of an MBA is considered a milestone. By no stretch of the imagination, the first year of an MBA is an overwhelming experience. However, by the end of two years, I realized that I could have done a few things differently to get better results. But every mistake looks silly in retrospect. Hence based on my personal experiences, I’ve jotted down the most important things you would want to focus on along with academics as an MBA participant.

Do’s

1. Socialize Early

A major part of personal development would come from socializing with people. Personally, I am not a big fan of networking which is basically to connect with others with an agenda to advance a career or business. Socializing is more about spending quality time to know people while doing activities together. This can include anything from group discussions to casual stress-busting recreational activities. Socialization is more humane as it helps in connecting with people at a deeper level. 

Socializing early means starting to connect with a good number of people from the first day possible. During this initial phase of college, everyone is seeking out for good company. So more or less everyone would be willing to talk and listen more than we would by the end of a few months. Also, the workload would increase drastically in just a matter of days if not weeks. So it would be somewhat difficult to socialize later. Also socializing early may act as a precursor for becoming an approachable person.

2. Participate Proactively

Many focus only on things that would help in securing high package placement offers, others focus on participating in events, workshops, etc. Though there is nothing wrong with being the former but the later ones have higher empathy and a wider perspective. These are the most important qualities of leaders.

Being proactive simply means being on the toes to do something. Be a proactive member of a club or committee. Whenever possible, participate in case competitions, socio-cultural-technical festivals, excursions, etc. As time progresses, you would adopt the qualities of a great team player. A simple start would be to not stay in the dorm room when you have free time. Go out and participate.

3. Use Dead Time

Like many, I also like to have fun but not with the guilt of compromising work. In the first year of an MBA, there is a steep learning curve that forces you to time management. For many, time management turns out to be a trade-off. However, you won’t be happy if you compromise things you love. For me, time management is to be able to make time for having fun later. This is where using dead-time comes into the picture.

Dead-time is a short period of time when there is no activity. 15-min lecture breaks, waiting for a meeting to start, time spent while traveling, etc are a few examples of dead-time. One way to get more time for fun activities is to fill this dead-time with boring mandatory tasks. You may include pre-reading a few pages of case studies in advance, pieces of individual assignments, reverting emails, etc. Usually, people procrastinate and slow down themselves when it comes to boring tasks. But doing this not-so-fun stuff in dead time forces you to be quick in a timely manner while keeping evening hours free.

4. Learn to Listen

Humans have an innate tendency to feel insecure, offended, and agitated when someone objects or doesn’t agree with them. Even though we may be wrong, we choose to ignore it. Unlike hearing which is subconscious, listening requires conscious effort. To listen is to understand the intent and not just words. In the age of social media where people are trolling others for the words used, it would be an invaluable quality to have.

Listening is an essential part of self-improvement. We live with a mental image of ourselves and getting feedback from others helps us to understand the areas we need to work upon. It also enables us to discover new aspects of our personality that we may not be aware of. Listening brings in a new perspective and enhances awareness about various topics. So whenever you have an opinion be vocal but also ensure you are listening well too.

Don’ts

1. Don’t be a Buzzkill

People enjoy positivity. Being critical is good but not always. Don’t be the person who kills the party by being too serious, too picky. Just go with the flow and if possible add more energy to people around you. People may forget what you did or what you said but no one forgets how good or bad you made them feel. So if you are not that jolly-good person then at least don’t be the buzzkill either.

2. Don’t Underestimate Anyone

Far more times than I can count, I’ve seen many people do things that one would have thought they couldn’t. This includes getting the highest placement packages, PPOs, interview calls, winning case competitions, etc. That’s when I learned that when we consider all the skill sets of a person we are just average. Not good, not bad but “Average”. 

Strong skillsets are compensated by something we are bad at. One may be extraordinarily good at something that would have required an extraordinary amount of time but to do that the person would have given up on something else. The only ones who end up being below average are those who slack and waste time. Let’s be wise and choose not to judge others. This also implies that do not predict a person’s future by their past.

3. Don’t Limit Experiences

The stress during 1st year can be so daunting to cope with that many participants choose to limit their experiences. This may reflect in seemingly less participation, less feedback, less feedback thereby decreasing chances of learning new things and self-improvement. Maintain good health and believe in yourself. Once you get into Do’s mentioned above you won’t even feel the stress. 

4. Don’t Ignore Emails

Last but not the least. Do not skip mails. In the present digital era, emails are the most widely chosen mode of communication. You don’t have to act on each mail but make sure nothing is no mail is ignored. You never know when a new career opportunity would pop up in the inbox. Go through your inbox at least a few times a day. Follow the dead-time technique to maintain a low number of unread messages. Read quickly, reply swiftly, tag important ones, delete spam and do not forget the email attachments.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed and learned something relevant. Everything I mentioned has come from my personal experience. I believe yours may be different. There may be a few things that you are doing right or wrong already. Either way please feel free to share your thoughts as well in the comment section. Thanks and good luck.