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Major Reflective Essay I am currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in the study of Business, Management and Economics concentrated in Accounting at Empire State College. I work full-time as private nurse assistance due to my present job. If I condense all my assumptions and expectations for the time being, I could say that my nearest and primary goal is to earn the degree and be a recognized expert in my chosen field. Here is how I narrated my goals in my previous paper; I have enrolled at the degree course with an aim to achieve my goals in the near future, to be well educated and knowledgeable in many areas, to restore my confidence to continue learning throughout my life, to open my own business preparing taxes in the next five years or be a controller of a company, and build a degree that will qualify me for many job opportunities, to increase my skills and broaden my abilities towards my future, to learn a variety of skills and techniques to help others as well, to work with people, as I enjoy working with them, and set a great example for my daughter which I had right after high school. I want my daughter to know that a college education is important to get what you want in life. As I advanced in my readings I realized that the list of my goals is huge, very obscure and not regulated. I repeated my goals in paraphrased sentences when I spoke about learning and development, I had contradicting concepts when I mentioned about opening my own business and still being qualified for many job opportunities, I related enjoyment with working with people, and I allocated very small portion to my daughter, again, linking my care towards her to my learning and hard working experience. I am undergoing serious reflections while grouping and formulating my goals into four sections; learning, working, family and social life. In my previous statements I had only learning and working in my mind, the words â€Å"family† and â€Å"social life† were uttered, but meant â€Å"working† and â€Å"learning†. At this stage I put the first three are on the same level, and still downgrade â€Å"social life†. I experienced a significant breakthrough during my readings on time management, correlations of work and social life, division of life between career and family. First of all the studies I read, the facts and figures from the history, the revolution in gender concept helped me to view the human life from a wide range of angels. (Kalleberg 2004) What does career mean for people? Is it for the well being of the family, or for the self? What is the secret of simple human happiness; in career advancement, learning, discovery, or love and warmth in the family? (Harvard Business School Press 2000)Those were the questions that I rose while reading information about increasing workload and learning needs, and decreasing marriage and birth rates in our society. The current economy rapidly changes, and this is the reason I wanted to be qualified in many job qualifications, which is practically extremely difficult. The background of this behavior is the insecurity in my future life. Shift of age groups in management greatly concerns me when I am doing a long term planning. Although I am open for learning, I can hardly imagine how I can accommodate myself in the employment market when I am over 40 and less capable of acquiring new knowledge and new skills. (Kalleberg 2004) I realized that my choices should be very limited and meet my learning and working expectations and abilities. I have to consider my career plans in the background of my social and family life. I should have in mind that in a few years I will have to reshape my routine day to day tasks in order to be physically more available for my daughter when she steps the path of learning and self-development. She will not be able to take my best example in learning and working, as she will not see me in the learning and working atmosphere, but will have an evening mother, tired and eager to get rid of her questions as soon as possible. The two time management exercises greatly helped me to experience extension of time (clock time) and full satisfaction after completing a task (event time). (Levine 1998) I am more likely to use the event time, but clock time is essential for the busy life I have already chosen. Although, it doesn’t mean I will not enjoy my weekends beyond any time. My ideal concept of life will be to master using the three categories in different circumstances, or even bind them all together and experience beyond-time feeling during 15 min. coffee breaks. I got very concerned when I assumed that I have put my family and individual values aside. I realized that in order to develop my long term plans I have to study other sides of human nature as well; how the endless working and learning atmosphere may influence on my physical and mental health, what personal problems may arise in my life, and how it my affect on my socialization skills. And finally, how the short and long term planning can be best practiced to contribute to a creation of self reliant and happy old age life? I feel the need to explore human nature and life stories, and get skills on how to save time for things that are more valuable for me. The final conclusion I had from this course is that I have to consider investing time as if I invest money. Investment in my professional development should have tangible outcomes in securing a dignified life for me and my family. This vision should guide me in any minor and major task I take over. Bibliography Harvard Business School Press. Harvard Business Review on Work and Life Balance . Perseus Distribution Services, 2000. Kalleberg, Cynthia Epstein and Arne. Fighting For Time. Russell Sage Foundation Publications , 2004. Levine, Robert V. A Geography of Time. Basic Books, 1998.