Creating a Study Plan

Taking MBA classes online is the height of convenience. But it also means that there is always going to be something that gets in the way of you actually completing them.

Jim Rohn, a business leader and motivational speaker, says that if something is easy to do, it’s also easy not to do it. You can always talk yourself into postponing something that’s easy to do. Unfortunately, you usually find that after a week, a month, a year — you still haven’t done it.

Many business schools have put a large number of their MBA classes online in order to extend their geographical reach. You can now take an MBA class at 2:00 in the morning on your laptop dressed in pajamas and sitting on your living room couch. You can’t much easier than that. But that convenience also makes it very easy to tell yourself, “I’ll do it tomorrow.” If it’s easy to do, it’s easy not to do.

You’ve got to fight that natural urge to procrastinate. The best way to do this is to set up a study plan that includes a schedule – and then to stick to it. This will pretty much guarantee that you’ll complete your program requirements on time.

Keys to a Successful Study Plan

A successful study plan combines all of the following items:

A Set Time Schedule. Take my advice and schedule a consistent time to study. Whether it’s 3 in the afternoon or 1 in the morning, set this time aside for studying and nothing else. And don’t let anything interfere. Consistency, more than anything else, is the key to successfully completing an MBA program.
Prioritized Coursework. Make you’re working on what’s most important, not on what’s easiest or most enjoyable. Take it from me, if you put off the hardest stuff for later, “later” never comes. Now you’ve still got the hard stuff left to do and most of your time is gone. Prioritize your work and do the most important, or the hardest, coursework first.
Minimal Distractions. Find a place (or a time) where distractions are minimized. If you’re trying to get your MBA while you’re working full time, that might be in the evenings. If you’ve got a family, that might be after everyone’s gone to bed. Whatever time or place you find will be much more effective if there’s a minimum of distractions.
Know Your Limits. Don’t try to take on too much at a time. When I got out of the military and started college, I felt like I was behind all of my High Schools friends so I signed up for a full load – while working at the same time. My first semester was a disaster. I think the only classes I didn’t fail were the ones I dropped. Know your limits – including how much time you have to study, do research, and write papers – and don’t over-commit yourself.
Maintain Balance. If you’ve got a family, and may Business School students do, balance your school life with your family life by scheduling time for both. Your spouse and your kids are much more likely to respect your “study time” if they know that there’s a set “family time” coming up.
Stay Flexible. There are going to be times that you just can’t seem to fit your coursework into your crazy schedule. Life is like that. When that happens, stay flexible and work on your course materials when and where you can. Instead of studying for an hour nonstop, you might have to fit in 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there. Don’t stress over missing your scheduled study time and fit in what you can whenever the opportunity comes up.
Consistent Action. I’ve said it elsewhere that consistency is the biggest key to your success. If you’ll take consistent action, nothing will keep you from your MBA.
Pause and Review. Don’t forget to occasionally pause and review. You need to review the material that you’ve studied in order to fix it in your mind. However, you also need to review your progress. How far in this class have you progressed? How much further is left to go? Once you complete this class, how far are you in your Degree Plan? How much further before you reach your goal and get your Degree? Occasionally pausing and taking a look at where you are usually makes you realize just how far you’ve come.

A Study Plan is not a a highly detailed or tightly-synchronized schedule. In fact, the tighter you try to schedule your time, the more Life seems to interfere. A Study Plan is designed to help keep you on track by providing a framework around which you can build your study habits.

Hiram
MBA, University of Houston

[tags]mba, university, school, business, degree, study plan, consistency, schedule, coursework, degree plan[/tags]