Xiaoyi was coming to Shuicheng today and sent me a message early in the morning saying she was about to arrive. I got up, took a shower, and quickly cooked a bowl of noodles for breakfast. I packed a zongzi (sticky rice dumpling) for her and headed out. Today, we were going to the Emergency Management Bureau for a qualification review.
After finishing the review around noon, I took her to try some xiaoguojuan (a local rolled snack) and Yuan Kun’s mutton rice noodles. After that, she returned to Guiyang. On my way home, I bought some waxberries and, upon seeing a vendor selling bamboo shoots, picked up two as well.
For dinner, I tried making bamboo shoot rice—it was incredibly fragrant!
In the afternoon, I finally finished reviewing the second round of Teacher Zhengdao’s material analysis. Since I have an interview coming up in a few days, I asked Huanhuan to play the role of the interviewer to help me practice. This exercise revealed many issues: my speech was not smooth due to nervousness, and the nervousness stemmed from a lack of confidence in my own logical thinking. I could come up with ideas, but I wasn’t entirely sure about them, leading to hesitant descriptions, physical tension, and verbal stumbling.
I need to build more confidence—first, I must believe that what I say is correct. Only then can I convince others. Additionally, this practice highlighted many detailed problems, mainly in the following areas:
- Speak clearly: Believe in yourself first, so others can believe in you. It’s helpful to provide appropriate examples.
- Be people-oriented: This is the core and foundation of the entire process. Always remember where your authority and livelihood come from.
- Stay grounded in reality: People want to feel understood and seen.
- Accumulate professional terminology: This will help when dealing with more abstract questions.
- When describing events, you can apply the STAR principle (Situation, Task, Action, Result).