Dec 26
Begin from where you left off. That simple and that’s it.
This is part two following on from the article why you lost your motivation to finish the PhotoReading course. Part one can be found here
If you already get this it then you don’t need to read anymore. If you disagree read or cannot understand how [...] [...more]
Posted: under Uncategorized.
Begin from where you left off. That simple and that’s it.
This is part two following on from the article why you lost your motivation to finish the PhotoReading course. Part one can be found here
If you already get this it then you don’t need to read anymore. If you disagree read or cannot understand how that could work. Read on. I’ll explain why and how this will get you to finishing the PhotoReading course.
When climbing a long set of stairs and needing to stop and rest you don’t race back down to the bottom and start over. You keep going from where you stopped. So why start self study courses over?
There is no need to start over from the beginning. That’s the beauty of home study courses like the PhotoReading course. It doesn’t have a specific period like classroom learning. If you enrol for a course and don’t show up you are doomed to start over and repeat the part of the course you already sat through. The reason for that is more logistic than necessity. It makes sense for the instructors standing at the front of the class to have their students there right from the beginning.
With a self study course like PhotoReading it doesn’t matter how long it takes you to do the course. Ultimately it’s up to you anyway. The instructor is there when you are. So why go on a guilt trip for not finishing it within a defined time? One that you didn’t specifically set consciously or logically. Even if you did, the reason you didn’t finish it was because there were other priorities. And had you really known what was in the course you might have planned differently.
What if I forgot what I learned.
Keep going from where you stopped, anyway. Don’t worry if you don’t remember it all, most courses will remind you with each CD. The PhotoReading course is different enough without punishing yourself by repeatedly starting over. And you learn nothing new each time you start at the beginning. The reason you stopped might be there was something you didn’t understand about the PhotoReading process. You know you are more likely to learn the answer in the next CD than the previous one? That’s because the course is designed as a step by step process.
And you have the manual to refresh your memory. Look back over the notes when you’ve listened to the next CD. It will come back to you. I know that PhotoReading is probably one of the most difficult home study courses and it works for that so it will work for other courses too.
What if I don’t get it because I did forget what I learned in the first 2 or 3 CDs?
Trust that you remember enough to understand the next lesson. Even if it seems difficult to understand the next lesson I challenge you to keep going. With PhotoReading it’s quite possible that the next lesson seems difficult. That’s okay.
Remember you can listen to them again after finishing the course. That’s the beauty of owning a course like the PhotoReading home study course. It’s yours to listen to and work with as often as you want. Once you finish home study courses like the PhotoReading course you can listen to them again and at random. Select the lesson you think you didn’t get from the index.
Make it a goal to finish the course once through. Learn it badly if you must. You will still learn more than when you start over again.
What if you finish the course and you “get it” without having to start over? That means in actual time you finished the course with one listening.
My advise is, Don’t start again. Start from where you left off. Just finish the course by listening to the next lesson that you haven’t worked with.
The benefits of keeping going from where you left off.
- There is a sense of satisfaction with finishing a course
- You’ve build on what you’ve already learned and make progress.
- It all becomes much more workable. Both your ability to progress through the course and your knowledge and ability to use the techniques taught in the course. (Get it?)
- You permission to work with any part of the course again and it’s much easier to do that when you’ve done it once.
- You don’t have to do all the exercises again. For the PhotoReading home study course it’s recommended that you do all the exercises on the first listening. That’s another reason why you won’t be motivated if you intend to start the course again from the beginning just because you haven’t finished it.
- You learn to trust your mind more. I’m not referring PhotoReading here. Although that is true of PhotoReading, you do discover the awesome skills of your mind. What I mean is you realise how much you know and remember already.
Classroom logistics don’t apply to home study courses. There is no rule that says if you didn’t do the next lesson in this course within 4 weeks you have to start over because you failed the course. You are your taskmaster and you made up that rule. There is no need for the guilt. I’m pointing out that if you want to be motivated that’s one invisible rule you can dump.
As I said in the beginning this advise is for any self study course and especially for the PhotoReading self study course.
You bought the course for your own self improvement goal so allow yourself to finish it. And build on your greatest asset, usable knowledge. So if you’re learning PhotoReading or doing any self study course without certification deadline and stalled. Set about to finish the course by starting from where you left off.
© Alex K Viefhaus
Dec 26
I get it asked most often in relation to the PhotoReading home study course. Yet this post relates to any self study courses on CDs or DVDs for learning. With home study course kits like PhotoReading you set your own timetable. So lets look at why you’re not motivated to proceed with the PhotoReading course [...] [...more]
Posted: under Uncategorized.
I get it asked most often in relation to the PhotoReading home study course. Yet this post relates to any self study courses on CDs or DVDs for learning. With home study course kits like PhotoReading you set your own timetable. So lets look at why you’re not motivated to proceed with the PhotoReading course or those other self study courses sitting on your bookshelf.
What stops the motivation to learn PhotoReading.
People start self study courses like the PhotoReading home study course and then wind up putting it aside for many reason within the first couple of CDs. About 2 or 3 hours into the course if not less. One of the common reasons is they buy courses like the PhotoReading home study course a few weeks before a major exam because they urgently need to catch up. They think learning a new skill like PhotoReading or courses that motivate, get organised, do things faster will help them catch up. Yet it’s the worse time to take up something new and certainly the worse time to Learn something new. Learning must each have its own time and exams just take priority.
Shortly after getting the PhotoReading they discover they really don’t have the time to learn something new like PhotoReading.
Others it is simply a case of other things taking a priority and cutting into the tentative time they set aside for the course.. After a week or two of not doing anything with the course guilt sets in and then it can be sitting on the shelf for many months or even years untouched.. Of course that is not how you learn what you set out to learn.
The thinking that stops the motivation.
The PhotoReading course consists of 8 CDs because it cannot be taught with less and it’s a mistake to think you will know the PhotoReading system after listening to the first 2 or 3 CDs. This is usually true for any course. The discovery that it is going to take more than an hour to learn PhotoReading based on an unrealistic expectation is another reason why you are no longer motivated.
Consider also. With the average CD being 1 hour long and if you listened to the first 3 CDs you’ve already spent 3 hours doing the course. The thought of starting the PhotoReading course all over again is demoralising.
And what if you already did the first 2 or 3 hours of the course?
If something happens again that stops you from completing the course 3 hour in and if you started from the beginning you would be at the same point you are now. You may not have put it into so many words never the less the thought was there. That’s daunting. That worry niggles at the back of the mind of anyone who has started a home study course and not finished it. That’s why people are reluctant to dust off the course and start again. They know there is a strong possibility that they will get stalled in the same place and have learned nothing new. The bookshelf can’t learn PhotoReading for you.
What about the worry that everything learned has been forgotten?
Even if you left the PhotoReading course on the shelf for a year or more. Its unlikely you have forgotten everything. Thinking like that is going to block your motivation.
At the same time repeating the course can be boring because you already heard it before. Does that thought motivate you? I can guarantee that you won’t finish the course on your second attempt either. In most cases the people asking me how to be motivated to do the course have already made at least 2 attempts at it.
Now you can see why there is no motivation to complete the course.
In my next post Ill give you the secret for finishing the PhotoReading course or any self study course you bought for self improvement.
© Alex K Viefhaus
Dec 12
If you are spending a lot of time researching how other people did it perhaps you’re afraid to be a little different?
You can learn on your own terms. Courses usually teach you what to do step by step.
Yet some people are afraid to start in case they fail. They want to make sure they have [...] [...more]
Posted: under expectation, frustration, learning.
If you are spending a lot of time researching how other people did it perhaps you’re afraid to be a little different?
You can learn on your own terms. Courses usually teach you what to do step by step.
Yet some people are afraid to start in case they fail. They want to make sure they have everything right before opening the books. They want to have everything 100% perfect with minimal to no effort. Failing means they might be different to those who succeeded before them.
I’m often amazed at how much effort people put into researching. Seeking to know from others, ’How long did it take you? How many hours did you put in Is there anyway that I can learn faster than you? Are there any short cuts? What’s the secret?’
Now it’s interesting when I tell them just start the course it will take you as long as it takes you. Three months later they are still asking me how long will it take when I start and can you guarantee me that I will succeed?
Well no I can’t guarantee you’ll succeed. Sad to say if you’re still researching whether you should start the course three months later I’m not sure you’ll succeed because you might not start.
Is it really difficult to be that little bit different and just start the course and perhaps not be a master at it the first time you do it? How can you make it okay to be different that it takes you a different length of time than someone else? Why must your ability match their time frame?
Dare to be different.
The sooner you start the course the sooner you reach a destination.
Consider this for a moment. If you spent 3 months researching 2 hours a day to prove that the course you are interested in works. You’ve spent roughly 240 hours researching. If you start a course with 8 to 24 CDs that require an hour of listening and perhaps an hour of work each the total time to complete the course is 16 to 48 hours.
If you started 3 months ago you’d be using a new skill now.
So don’t ask
- how long did it take you?
- how much have your grades improved
- what are your grades now?
The answer is who cares? You’re not really asking to be inspired. You’re asking to be guaranteed that the effort is worth it. Yet expending more effort looking for that guarantee. Just Do It and see.
Ask instead
- what are you doing that I am not?
And I can answer immediately. I’m applying what I learned.
We are all different. So there is little point to fear what is reality. Dance to the tune of your own drum. Just make sure you recognise where you are putting your energy. Into procrastination? You don’t need to research reasons why you shouldn’t do something you don’t want to do. Don’t do it. If you’re not interested in a course right now then it’s okay to say it.
I see people spend three months researching before they take a risk and do the course. They stoke the fear that they will fail.They rob themselves of the valuable time they have to start learning and then are rushed by desperation and panic because they used so much time researching. If you need to prove that you can or cannot learn what is taught in a course you need to start the course and see. No one else can do that for you.
Experimenting and discovering it doesn’t work for you isn’t failure and you’re still okay. You’re allowed to be different. You don’t have to be good at the same thing as everyone else. You just found out what doesn’t work for you.
What do you think?
© Alex Viefhaus
