Many people decide, of their own free will, to pay good money to educate themselves. In these challenging economic times, many students are deciding to stay home and use the Internet as a foundation for education. Are they making a mistake?
One significant problem is that a large percentage of the courses that are provided to people in a home study format will NOT be completed. One well-known university reported eighty percent of new students failed to complete their studies. How sad. What happens to the good intentions of people who spend their valuable resources on courses they themselves choose to take, only to fail to complete them? Can anything be done to improve the completion rate?
The fact is that these numbers can be reversed. By following a few basic suggestions designed to make the process more fun and less painful, it has been shown that eighty percent or more can successfully complete their studies and benefit from the additional skill and knowledge they acquire.
Here are some suggestions that will improve the likelihood of your success when you enroll in home study courses. It is suggested that if they appear useful to you, print them out and read them more than once. Turn them into a plan of action.
1. Create a Goal
Entire books have been written on the process of goal setting. It is the single most important factor in the achievement of anything. Formulate your goal. Write it down. Modify it when you need to.
When you plant a goal in your mind and regularly nourish it, your mind will do amazing things to help that goal become reality. Whatever it is that you are seeking to do, make a concrete, written goal, refresh your mind periodically with it, and it will happen.
You become successful as soon as you do this. The rest is simply walking out the rest of the plan. It is like taking a trip by automobile. If you set a destination before you start driving, the chances are excellent that you will arrive at your pre-determined goal. If you drive without a goal, you eventually run out of gas and quit. Note that it is not the achievement of a goal, but rather the process of working toward a goal that defines success.
After you form your goal in your mind, write it down and place it where you will see it repeatedly during the day. You must plant your goal in your mind. Then you need to nurture it, take care of it. Keep it in front of you. Water it, let the sun shine on it, and it will blossom into the marvelous future that you can only imagine right now.
If your goal is a large one, do as a South African friend explained when asked, "How do you eat an elephant?...One bite at a time!"
Break your large goal down into bite size pieces. Sign up for your first course. Plan to finish it. Set a completion date. Break it down into chapters. Can you do a chapter a week? Maybe 2 chapters?
Make your goals concrete and achievable. High enough to get you to work for them, realistic enough that you can reach them.
Learning how to set goals and work toward their realization is the most valuable skill a human can acquire. You can reach nearly any goal you set. As you believe, so will it become.
It is worth repeating: Write down you goal and put it where you can see it. Then you will not forget about it. Put it on your mirror. Put it in your wallet. Put it in your car. Keep your goal in your mind. Your mind, will and emotions will help it come to pass.
2. Create a Picture
It helps to create pictures in your mind. Try to see yourself actually doing what you hope to do. Create a mental picture of yourself. See yourself after you have accomplished your studies. Imagine how others will react. See yourself doing what you are learning.
Picture your environment. Will it be your own office? Where is it? Is there a view? Are there shelves full of books. Diplomas hanging on the wall? How does it feel to see yourself in your office? Imagine as many details as you can.
3. Prepare to Face Negative Influences
Learning is work. Work is good. Work is not punishment. To actually pick up a textbook and read new material is like being a farmer facing a new, virgin piece of land. While he knows the potential is great, he also knows that the first time he tries to plow that patch of ground, the earth is going to resist. It has been sitting there undisturbed for a long time. It is comfortable, settled, and is not about to change without resistance.
Be ready for the challenge. It subsides. Nothing lasts forever, including the minor discomfort your mind experiences when you try to put some new information in it. Be prepared. When you body reacts negatively (confused, bored, tired, frustrated, etc.) you can be respond positively. Remind your body that the discomfort is only temporary, minor, and necessary. Use the pictures you have created in your mind of where you going and who you are going to become to pull you through the difficulties that will appear.
Be alert. Write down those things that may try to prevent you from your study. Write down what you will do to overcome them (pray, take a short break, call your mentor, etc.). You will benefit from writing down in advance a list of those things that may throw you off-track. Remind yourself of the truth if you find yourself avoiding your education.
4. Set the Stage - Prepare Your Environment
In order to successfully complete your courses, you may need to acquire some new skills and knowledge. You will need to learn to email, chat, or use a special application program. You may want learn to video conference with your instructor. Be prepared and learn any special skills you may need in advance. Learn to download and print documents. Learn to use Twitter. Learn what you need to participate.
Decide where you are going to do your studying. Take a look at where you plan to study. You have planned to study? Will it provide you with an opportunity for uninterrupted concentration? Is it well lit and comfortable? Learning is challenging enough without additional burdens from physical discomfort.
It is helpful to have a place you identify with studying. When you go that place, that is what you do. Well lit, quiet and comfortable. Find or create a place for you to study.
When you were a child, and your full time job was learning, you probably had a place you went to complete your homework. Most adults do not provide as well for themselves. Dedicate a place to your studies. When you go there, you will automatically know what to do.
It may be good to picture yourself studying your coursework. Imagine the ideal setting for yourself. Then make it a reality.
The distressing fact is that many who start on a program of education fail to complete it. There are many reasons. Cover all the possibilities. This is a basic step that can go a long way toward insuring your success. Make sure you have a supportive place to study. You and your future deserve it.
5. Prepare Yourself Body Emotionally and Physically
It is important to realize that the emotional and mental state you are in when you sit down to study is very important. Many of our students find that a good time to pray and meditate is before they start their studies. Pray, meditate, place your mind in a receptive and quiet mode. You cannot be engaged in a mental battle and expect to accomplish anything involving study and learning.
Prepare your body. If you need to perform some physical preparation before your study, do so. If you are thirsty, drink. If you are hungry, feed yourself. Why be distracted by messages from your stomach? Do whatever physical things you need to do before you begin your work. It is very distracting to be telling your body to wait for this or that until you get done. Plan ahead. Your mind does not need physical distractions. They will undermine your studies.
6. Decide How Long You Will Study
It is important to understand that spending too long studying will keep you from completing your work. If you spend so long studying that you become uncomfortable, your mind will go to work figuring out ways to avoid this discomfort in the future.
Before you start a study session, decide how long you will study. This is not a race or a marathon. If you become weary during a session, STOP. You do not want to condition your body into thinking study is unpleasant or it will work against you.
Keep your sessions short. Like eating, it is better to enjoy a few small meals than one large one. Schedule one or two short sessions several times a week. You will get your work done and not create roadblocks for yourself. You can find three or four periods of 15 minutes in a week, can't you? You will complete the course before you know it.
Make your own schedule. Stick with if it works for you, change it if it needs changing. You know what is comfortable for you. Plan ahead. Limit yourself. Enjoy this process. Give your mind time to reflect on what you have read. You are building a sturdy foundation. There is no rush. Let it become solid.
When your time is up, STOP. You will want to go over and digest what you have read, but do this over the next day or two. Be gentle with yourself. You have waited this long. Do not continue to study too long. Do not try to make up sessions you may miss. Just extend your schedule. This is not a race. But you do want to finish!
You may decide to read "x" number of pages or spend "y" number of minutes studying in a given session. Do not go over. Stop when you have reached your goal for that session.
7. Answer your own questions
Briefly consider the material you about to study. Formulate questions about what you are about to learn. Look for the answers in what you read. Take notes. Underline. Write in books. When you become active in the learning process, more of what you are exposed to will "stick."
In summary, be good to yourself. Education is a gift. Enjoy it. Do not punish yourself with study. Make it enjoyable so you will want to do more. You mind directs you actions as a result of the associations it makes. Associate pleasant things with your learning experience and your mind will help you. If you make study unpleasant, your mind WILL figure out ways to get you to STOP.
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Plants are shaped by cultivation and men by education. .. We are born weak, we need strength; we are born totally unprovided, we need aid; we are born stupid, we need judgment. Everything we do not have at our birth and which we need when we are grown is given us by education.
(Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile, On Philosophy of Education)
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