How to Study Smart

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Why do some students study very hard, spending most of their time doing their revision but they aren’t the best in their study group? And why are there some students who only spend a fraction of the time studying but they often get good or even outstanding results? This was not due to the lack of natural talent in studies but it simply means that they have not found an effective tool which acts as a knack for understanding concepts and learning new ideas. One of the smart study habits is by using mind-map to promote effective and accelerated learning experience. A mind map is a useful web-like structure which emphasizes visual imagery that helps to engage in critical thinking and seeing a bigger picture. Empirically, mind-mapping is proven as an effective method of note-taking as an active learning (Abi-El-Mona and Abd-Ei-Khalick, 2008; Liu, Zhao and Ma et al., 2014). Mind mapping makes learning more vivid, thus promotes creative thinking and encourages brainstorming. Th
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Jack Ma effect


To conceptualize an idea may not take long, but when it comes to actually develop, implement and make it a success can be a taxing tax. Most of the time, some ideas may just remain as ideas, not all of them will get the green light and make the cut. Whatever it is, perseverance and consistency are very crucial when it comes to making it a reality. This important belief has made Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group, become one of the world’s most respected and successful businessman.

Jack Ma grew up in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. At the age of 12, he began his work life by volunteering to become a free tour guide in order to improve his proficiency in English. After he had graduated from Hangzhou Normal University, he then began teaching English. However, he was not satisfied with the salary and wanted to create something big. He forayed into website making when the concept was infancy in China. Despite being deemed risky, he started an online business when the computers have not yet become a household item in China (Barczyk et al., 2011).

After that, he set up Alibaba as a business-to-business marketplace where it enables the Chinese exporters to connect with the overseas buyers. He believes that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) would be the future of China, as such Alibaba’s mission was set to help the SMEs grow and to work together with the overseas trading partners in international trade. His continuous effort and perseverance has made Alibaba an established e-commerce giant and competitive force to reckon with in China. In the year ending March 31, 2017, Alibaba recorded revenues of RMB 158, 273 million, which indicated an increase of 56% year-over-year (Alibaba Group, 2017).

There was once when I was searching through the internet looking for my assignment materials, and this inspiring quote of Jack Ma appeared on screen. “Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow is worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.” That’s when I started to look into the story of Jack Ma. His journey was from the youthful failure to the ultimate success. He had encountered various failures in multiple job applications in his early years, from police officer to fast-food worker, and finally to the launching of Alibaba with his friends and supporters. And now, it has expanded to more than ten related businesses and affiliates, such as Taobao, Tmall, AliExpress, Lazada, Cainiao, Koubei, Alibaba Cloud and many more.

Everyone has a rough start. In the process of choosing whether to move forward, or to stop at the point can be the hardest decision to be made, especially when you put in your 200% effort, but yet the result was not satisfying. However, the story of Jack Ma can be influential to everyone out there who is struggling. I am not sure of what is in your mind after reading the roller coaster ride life of Jack Ma. But, he has greatly impressed and influenced me in the aspect of seeing the world, by not just limit yourself in the current circle. Always remember, never give up is the key to success and the success may just be a step ahead of you!

References

Barczyk, C., Falk, G., Feldman, L. and Rarick, C. (2011) Alibaba: Changing the way Business is Conducted in the Information Economy. Journal of International Academy for Case Studies. V.17 (7), pp.127-133.

Alibaba Group (2017) Alibaba Group Announces March Quarter 2017 an Full Fiscal year 2017 Results [online], May 18th, 
Available at: http://www.alibabagroup.com/en/news/press_pdf/p170518.pdf 
[Accessed: 24th July 2017]
By: Yau Che Yan, BAF1541


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