It had been quite awhile since I last went on a field trip of any sort.

I say that because, to be honest, I was a little skeptical about going down to Detroit. Not because I dislike the city, or I thought the people wouldn’t be worthwhile, just simply because it was the Friday before Easter and instead of being in class for 3 hours I was going to be gone from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Thankfully, I was very wrong and am actually so happy that I got to spend all of my Friday before Easter learning from  people willing to share their work and life experiences with us.

Despite living in Metro Detroit and visiting the city frequently, no prior experience was comparable to this trip to Detroit. I learned something different and helpful from each individual person. I am going to use the rest of this blog post to talk about what I got from my day down in Detroit, not only to tell you about what I learned but also as a note to myself to remember these powerful anecdotes.

1. JUST ASK

• When you have a question or need help, you should always ask.
  • The worst thing that can happen is they say no to you.
• Most people will want to give you a helping hand because they were once in the same position as you.
• Use your resources because most people fail to utilize all of the things available to them. 

2. We are all Project Managers

• Life is a bunch of small and large projects
• You must divide the projects into small chunks to ensure little wins
  • Prioritize the most important projects to be completed first
  • Projects will come in phases, sometimes you will be very busy, but at othertimes you will have time to relax.

3. FLOW LIKE WATER

• Bumps in the road are okay, and they will happen to everyone at different times.
• Adjust yourself and do not let the roadblock stop you.
  • Instead, learn to flow gracefully around it.
• Let people know of what problems you have, they often would love to help you.

Overall, this day was incredibly inspiring for me, being able to see face-to-face so many successful people was something I had not experienced in my life before.

Each speaker empowered us, students, to realize that we all have the individual power to achieve our own goals in life.

Eric Thomas, specifically, helped me realize that we need to realize our individual strengthens and weaknesses then double down on our strong spots.

Thank you again to Amy, all of the speakers, my classmates and thank you to the city of Detroit!