I have enrolled into an ICB course with Kaplan in August 2011. Unfortunately due to personal problems I just couldn't get started then. Now, all these months later, when things have settled down again in the personal front, I feel I lack motivation in getting started with the course. I have spent a fortune on the course and am a single mum who can do with the cash once I get qualified etc, etc.... but I feel like I have hit a wall with the course. Anyone out there who may have remotely been in a similar situation ( either at the start or during the course ) please help / advice.
as surely as night follows day this will happen at various times during your studies.
Whether it's after failing an exam, hitting something that you don't understand or other issues it just seems as though the batteries flat and nothing will kick the study back to life.
The secret that I've found is to instead of trying to go forwards and failing, go back to something that you did well and enjoyed and do it again. In my case it's always a three company consolidation question but it can be absolutely anything (I assume that you had actually started and then stopped rather than never actually got started at all?).
If you had started your studies before than the key is that it needs to be a question rather than study, it needs to be something that you are comfortable with and once you've got your study engine started again. Keep your foot down on the gas.
If you had not started your study previously then the lack of motivation is more likely to be a fear of failure disguised as a lack of motivation. If that's the case then remember that everyone in your group has exactly the same fears and yet invariably those people who have a fear of failure go on to gain success in the exams.
Why?
because they are forever questioning their own abilities rather than allowing misplaced confidence to get in the way.
The key is to just open the book at page one with the intention of reading only that one page.
Forget the rest of the book. Don't look at the study text and see several hundred pages. See only the page that you are on as that's the only page that matters.
All that you need to do is reach the end of that page and then decide whether or not to do another... Before you know it you'll be half way through the book and wondering what your problems were.
If you get stuck there's generally someone on here to offer a little help and advice so don't think that you're ever alone in your efforts.
Good luck Hope, we're all behind you (so travel on the front seat of buses becausee there are rather a lot of us!).
kind regards,
Shaun.
P.S. If you think that Kaplan is a fortune, look at the Home Learning College prices then sit back and smile at your excellent choice of training provider.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I found that there was always something else that needed doing, which took priority over studying. As Shaun said though, it had nothing to do with it really, it was just my subconscious excuse not to start.
What I did was decide that the studying was the "something else that needed doing", and set aside time time to do it, and regardless of anything else, it took priority.
As a single mum, I can imagine that there are other priorities that can easily take over too. May be the mind set to get in to, is not that you could do with the cash but that you are doing it for a future
It isn't easy but you have alraedy crossed the first hurdle, by finding the money and investing in the course.
Good luck, and remember, if you need more motivation, or help with the studies, there are plenty of people on here, happy and willing to help.
There are others who have been in your situation, I meet some at ICB meetings, perhaps think about why you wanted to start the course in the first place and remember what encouraged you to start.
I guess from your post you are still interested in bookkeeping, and registering yourself on this forum further shows it.
Have you thought about attending an ICB members meeting? There are 14 booked over the next month and it can be a real motivator to see other students in your situation and members who have successfully completed the course and changed their career or set up a business.