finish line by Sean MacEntee via flickr CC
I thought this was a perfect topic to wrap up my contribution to Blog Every Day In June.
On WordPress’ Freshly Pressed page today was this hilarious post about the very serious topic of all the projects and tasks we start in our lives and then just never finish. Read this bit – you’ll get some idea:
See, that’s the problem: I have no follow-through. I’ve tried a bazillion things and moved on from just about all of them. Honestly, the things that I’ve managed to stick with I’m either legally obligated to do (like paying my mortgage), need the money (like my day job), simply can’t reverse (like being a parent), or would die if I stopped (like eating and, while I have been testing this theory, bathing)
I must admit I have a pretty bad case of this follow-through-less-ness myself, and judging from the number of comments following the post, I’m certainly not alone.
Finishing my undergraduate library science degree took me 9 years part time. A whole lot of things contributed to that, but if I’m honest, there was some degree of losing interest, particularly towards the end when my library subjects were finished, I was battling through a management major and going through serious change in my personal life.
What got me through? The knowledge that throughout my life I had shown a tendency to not follow through. I suddenly developed a fierce determination that this was not going to happen this time. I had invested many hours and thousands of dollars into my degree and really wanted to finish it. It was a major personal success for me just to complete the degree.
When I think about it, I’ve actually demonstrated follow through quite a few times in the past couple of years. I’ve participated in #blogjune for 2 years running now – and each time I have followed through and finished it. I think I missed one day last year and none this year, I’m pretty sure that shows staying power. The same goes for #1pic1thoughtinAug last year, I managed to get a photo uploaded every day. Maybe, just maybe I’m better at this than I first thought?
Cue forward 18 months, to the very last day of #blogjune and I’ve just enrolled in the Masters of Information Studies – essentially to convert my undergrad qualification to a post-grad one. It’s not going to make much difference to my employment or professional recognition but there’ll be a certain satisfaction in finishing it. Stay tuned.
Opinions from an OPL 
Hats off to you finishing the degree. I went back to uni but did it full-time as I don’t think I could stand it if my degree took as long as a part-time one.
I’ll be interested to hear about the course you have enrolled in as I have contemplated doing some librarianship training. The question is what is a good course? I figure that loads of IT is good.
Thanks Yvonne!
I have to confess that my choice of course is entirely influenced by the fact that by going back to CSU I get a considerable amount of credit towards the Masters because I’ve done so much of the coursework as part of my undergrad. Essentially I’m just converting my BA to an MIS, but it has career and CV benefits so I think it’s worth doing. I’m a really lazy student.
Information Architecture seems to be a popular major, but to be honest, looks like a lot of hard work so I’m opting for the easier community relations/social networking technologies stream in my MIS.
To gain professional recognition in Australia you can do the undergrad or a choice of post grad options (either a Grad Dip or a Masters) – there’s no difference in your level of professional recognition from any of those pathways. I believe it’s better to have the Masters if you are thinking of working overseas but as that’s not on my agenda I’ve not worried about that.
Good luck!
Coolwell done
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[…] semester, in my quest for a postgraduate qualification, I’m doing a subject called Value Added Information Services. Turns out this more or less […]