Greetings fellow academics

Wow!! As Nicki said “Where does the time go?” This is my fourth blog which means it is November already and it doesn’t seem that long ago since I was applying to RDI. Speaking personally, the whole learning experience has been very challenging. I have to say though, with the help and guidance from everyone at RDI, especially Ben Culling for his advice and support of these blogs, Steve Ellerby my Module 1 tutor, Paula Reilly my Module 2 tutor and Lynsey McKay for helping guide this not so savvy computer pounder whom without all this help would not have reached as far as I am today.

I was very unsure at the start of the program, “Have I picked the right level to enter? And indeed “Can I get through this?” I need not have worried! In fact with the help of the RDI group and my fellow classmates this learning experience has actually taught me a lesson totally unrelated to the management course I am on.

It’s Okay to Ask for Help!!!!!!

Now, I am sorry to betray the brotherhood but throughout my career, one of the hardest lessons I’ve learned was to know when it was time to ask for help. Danielle (who regular readers of my blog will know) is my very patient and understanding wife. Danielle calls it ‘typical man syndrome’! But it’s happened to all men (and women) I suspect. I sometimes saw asking for help as a negative, you know, that horrible moment when ego meets reality! But now (with the odd relapse) I am cured!!!

You know the scene, lost whilst out driving but would rather keep driving in ever decreasing circles in the vain hope of stumbling onto a familiar landmark or a recognized road than stop and ask for directions, only to find that you are completely and utterly lost! And then still protesting at her insistence that we ask for help!

I was never very good when as a wee nipper trying to put the square peg in the square hole when the round hole was so much more of a challenge. So what do I do? I try assembling that flat pack furniture. If it were in a dictionary the definition would be ‘a system designed to alter the state of a man’s ego’ but as a highly qualified aircraft engineer surely this can not apply to me right? Having made the Fourth Rail Bridge from a Meccano set surely I didn’t need the instructions for a piece of furniture ‘It can’t be that hard right’? Only to find you have 3 hinges, 8 screws and a door handle left over at the end of what would have been a perfectly nice wardrobe is now a dog kennel as I was determined to do it myself instead of asking for Danielle’s help!.

Note: I am a very good aircraft engineer so it’s perfectly safe to fly! Also I buy pre-assembled furniture now

My particular favourite however has to be getting into that new car which to your absolute delight is festooned with buttons, switches, touch screens and an on- board computer 10 times the size that NASA used to send the Apollo missions out of the Earth’s heavenly shackles. Do we read the technical manual, nope!! Let’s just push that button and see what happens. Lets be honest the closest we come to reading the instructions on this one is asking your wife to read out where the spare tyre is and how do you get it out from it’s hiding place when you are standing in the rain at the side of the M25!

Quicksand

Before reading this paragraph the author strongly recommends that you read all the way to the bottom!!!!!

I am reminded of the analogy of quicksand and how it can relate to personal achievement. We have seen countless movies of the bad guy chasing the damsel in distress when suddenly he runs into quicksand. The harder the villain struggles the more the quicksand sucks him down.

How many of us who are trying to cope with full time jobs, family and an intensive studying regime feel like the harder we try to set aside the appropriate time for studying the less time we seem to have? The harder we study the less we think we are learning, any of this sounding familiar?

Hope

Fear not, this is absolutely normal and you’re not alone! Like the poor guy trying to get out of the quicksand the key is to make small movements. I am finding that when I originally started to study I was setting aside 2 or 3 hours at a time, but didn’t feel I was accomplishing much. I now study for an hour maximum but twice or three times a day and I have to say it has made a huge difference for me.

I am in no way advocating this method for everyone! As we all have our own way of studying, this just happens to work for me. I just wanted to share that there comes a time when we can try too hard and miss the fact that this is supposed to be an enjoyable experience as well as furthering our education and hopefully our careers.

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