I’d like to share with my readers, an answer I provided to a Linked In contact some weeks ago.
The question posed was:
How do you find the time to do an MBA when you’re juggling an already very busy workload and home life?
My answer follows:
From my own personal experience, I completed my MBA (specializing in Internet Marketing) in 2 years, studying part time via Distance Education, working something like 60 hours a week (we were doing a major proposal worth $60million) with 2 children aged 6 and 4.
That was a struggle and required an immense amount of dedication and focus. That two years really came down to scheduling my time into nearly hourly blocks and I gave up a bit of sleep and a lot of recreation.
I would get up about 5am and spend 2 hours studying, get ready for work and the kids ready for the day, get to work around 8 / 8.30am and work through to 6 or 7pm, get home, spend some time with my kids and hubbie, have dinner and work until midnight / 1am. It was a routine.
My hubbie was great at taking on some of the household stuff – he already cooked dinners, so that wasn’t such a change but he would make sure that I could get the time I needed each night to do my study.
I gave up a lot of ‘personal entertainment’. I didn’t read a novel for that 2 year period, I read text books. I watched the occasional movie, but didn’t sit and watch TV, I studied and responded to my assignments. I didn’t go out with my friends, I worked on my MBA.
Occasionally, my friends would descend enmasse and drag me out and it was a great break and I found that I could focus a little better for the break.
However, it came down to routine. Making sure that everyone knew that I had scheduled time to study, what time that was and I stuck to it. I was very focused. I had set my goal to complete in two years and I did.
The other side benefit, is that my children saw what could happen when you set your goal, you plan and focus. I shared with them, at a level they understood, what I needed to achieve and showed them how I achieved it.
Finally, I deliberately chose to study using distance education because I knew that I could do this if I could work around my hectic schedule. I don’t mind working late at night, if I have a goal to reach.
If you think about it, 15 hours a week is only really 2.5 hours a day, 5 days a week…. you could block out an entire weekend and knock most of it over then…. However, you have to decide what is important and whatever you decide will be the right thing.
I chose to study my Masters Of Business Administration mainly because I was bored and I needed a challenge. It really was a case of ‘Becareful Of What You Wish For”… I certainly wasn’t bored for a very long time after that.
I investigated my options. I could have studied at a Uni in Canberra, near where I live or the Australian Graduate School Of Management (which I was accepted into) however, I chose to study using Distance Education through Charles Sturt University not only because it suited my style of learning – I could also structure my time around family and work demands. In the end – it was a wise decision.
I don’t regret studying for my MBA however, it is not a decision you should take lightly.
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