Wrapping up grad school class #4 this week!

Whoa, last week of class, how'd you sneak up on me so fast?!

It was a particularly challenging course this time around, and it wasn't totally because of all the traveling I did during the last eight weeks. Although that really upped the challenge-factor. My class is called Leadership Development and requires a lot of self-reflection (and taking a multitude of self-assessments) throughout the course.

As I finish my portfolio project, a 10+ page paper all about where I am in terms of my leadership development, I've grown to realize I still have a long way to go in certain areas. There's some stuff I'm good at, according to the self-assessments anyway. But still, it seems like there's always something else I could be doing to be even better.

I also learned my limits as to how hard I can push myself to complete the work. Because we were gone for a ten-day cruise, I had to frontload a lot in order to turn in assignments before the due date. I also had weekends where I wasn't around (off doing fun things) so I had to chain myself to my desk most of the time during the week.

For those that think grad school is easy and requires minimal effort and the only ability to pay for it, you're wrong. At least at CSU, these are difficult if you don't pay attention, don't do the readings, or just all around don't care. Luckily I do care, and even though I hate dealing with all the little required grammatical fluff and strict adherence to APA writing standards, I just have to grit my teeth and bare it.

I also tend to reward myself after I complete an assignment with some delicious treat from a trip, or thirst-quenching glass of wine. Mmm. It's a good incentive system. Now we can also add to the reward list the ability to take relaxing saunas with our new essences:

(We were very excited to find these over the weekend.).

Class #5 begins next Monday, so there is no lull in getting this degree. After this week I'll be 1/3 done. With a fresh start I'm hoping that I can manage my workload a little easier, and not leave such a large chunk of the final paper until the very end.

But we'll see. There's no telling what the sunshine and spring temperatures will bring in terms of new adventures to take...