You know how it is when you go on vacation. You take off for a few days, have a great
time, and when you get back to work you really have to force yourself to get
back into the groove. Well, getting back
into your studies is a lot like that, too.
My wife and I took off for a few days this past weekend to
celebrate our wedding anniversary. We
spent some time at a casino (we broke even), ate some great food and had a relaxing
weekend with no kids in sight. We took a
break from everything, including studying.
Now that we are back home, our responsibilities are back
with a vengeance. I have had to work
extra hours at the office to catch up on what I missed while I was gone. My wife has had more household chores to do
than usual, including a grocery shopping trip which took several hours. I have been catching up on some sales
training for my job. My Financial
Accounting course? I haven’t looked at
it in days. I have to admit, I’m feeling
a bit of guilt.
That’s how it is when you are studying a completely
self-paced course. It can be hard to
stay on track. Nobody is going to hold
your feet to the fire to make sure you are doing the work you are supposed to
be doing and moving through it at a satisfactory pace. It is completely up to you to remain
motivated.
So far, I would say that has been my biggest challenge since
I started studying with Penn Foster
College. I am determined to earn my degree, but there
are things that come up which serve as road blocks to my study progress, unless
I plan for them, set a strict study schedule and stick to it. Procrastination is a killer in a self-paced
program.
Now that I am caught up on my work at the office, I can turn
my attention to my studies once again. I
plan to go back to my schedule of reading a chapter a night. If I manage to stick to it, I should be able
to get through the rest of my course in a couple of weeks.
While I’m at it, perhaps I can find a distance learning
course on self motivation. After taking
a few days off, I could use it!