In my previous blog post, I let you in on my "motivational tip" number 3, which is to chart your progress and reward yourself. Hey, you deserve it, don't you? I know that I do. So with this particular blog entry, I'm going to share my fourth motivational suggestion...

Online Learning Motivational Tip #4 - Teach Others What You've Learned
One thing that I've learned so far now that I've gotten back to work on my degree in earnest is that there are lots of people around me who want to know about what I'm doing as I progress toward my goal and, more specifically, what I'm learning in my online and self-study courses. I feel really good when my two teenaged daughters ask me about my classes...and I feel even better about it when they want me to teach them about the subjects I'm currently studying myself. Last semester my oldest daughter was very interested in my public speaking class and I shared some of the concepts with her, while my youngest also expressed some interest in what I was learning in art history.

There's nothing better when you're taking college courses than sharing the learning. I'd be willing to lay down a small wager that you've got lots of folks around you--family, friends and co-workers--who know about your online pursuit of higher education and may want to know even more about the subjects you're working on. Even if they aren't so interested in your studies that they constantly ping you for information on your classes, I'd venture to guess that a simple "Hey, do you know what I learned in my whatever whatever class this week?" would open up the doors to a lot of conversation about your studies. In fact, taking the opportunity to teach others abour what you're learning or to share a little bit of the new wisdom you've gained is a FANTASTIC way to reinforce your own learning.

So get out there and start spreading the wealth and helping yourself in the process!