Finally, the heat has been turned down in Japan, and we are starting to head towards Autumn. Of course, this means that with the sudden change in temperature everyone is now sick(!), but I will take the sniffles over being fried alive any day! This physical state could be a metaphor for where I am at with the course now!

I am almost finished now with my final module (which is actually module 1), my Learning Diary, Personal Development Plan, Skills Audit and various other bits of analysis which make up my “Managing Myself and Others” assessment. Wow! This has been a long hard slog, and I am not quite out of the woods yet, in that I have just discovered there is now a word count on the assessment. I wasn't aware of this when I started it, so I have been merrily bashing away at my Learning Diary (and Personal Diary supplementing my development goals) week on week, only to discover – the best part of 12,000 words later – that there is now a word limit of 6000 ! Oh!

I am waiting on a response from the support guys as to what I should do about this (jumping off the roof seems a little extreme, given that I am almost at the finish line now!) and meanwhile I am working on my evaluation and revision section of the document – which has turned up a number of interesting things worth sharing with current and future students.

Lessons Learned

My time management skills, hard-coded into my development plan, have taken a serious leap forwards this year. That is no great surprise really, but you may recall that I have often said one of the hardest things about studying by distance learning, especially when you are working and have a family, is balancing everything and everyone. Well, I have FINALLY learned to cut myself a little slack. Don't micro-manage your tasks – you WILL get them done eventually, so don't add to your pressure day by day, and if something slips through the net, pick it up in the next net. That said, try to stay ahead of schedule as far as possible, because you never know when disaster (or the flu!) will strike! I don't feel guilty any more when I am studying instead of working, or working instead of being with the kids. This is who I am. This life makes me happy. And that is good, not just for me, but for everyone around me too.

I identified my strengths and weaknesses very early on in the course (I had to! It was on the list of things I must include in the document!) but of course, things don't stay the same, and as my personal skills have developed, new people and new opportunities have entered my life in the last year in ways I would never have expected, to influence and change my direction. Looking back on my future goals a year ago, I was considering options that, whilst still open to me, are no longer necessarily the path I wish to follow as a direct result of what I have learned in the past year. Be prepared as you work through this course, increase in confidence and believe more in yourself, that you will open doors you never even considered possible. PhD, anyone??!

I have never written about this before, and this is getting more personal, but something I have suffered with for years is anxiety. It has been up and down, I have had good months and bad months, and horrendous months, but it has always been there, looming over me. I hard-coded an anxiety management course into my development plan, because it had such a big impact on my life. Over the years it has influenced jobs I have taken, places I have been, things I thought I could or could never do.  It is a HUGE leap forwards for me to no longer be suffering with anxiety, and that is absolutely something worth sharing with the world!

There are many other unexpected benefits I can list here, but suffice to say this course has changed me in ways I could never have predicted when I came into it. Even approaching 40 doesn't scare me anymore!!!

Acknowledgements

There are so many people to thank for their help and support. Kenji, my wonderful husband, who has supported me throughout this course. My 3 fabulous children, Mia, Kai and Jay, who have never once complained when Mummy had to study (and even turned studying into a game for themselves!). “The Grannies” – thank you for all the babysitting! My friends - thanks for listening and always being there with the beer/wine/pizza whenever I needed to “take a break” ;) The guys at RDI – everyone – thank you for all your help, support, encouragement. And of course, Starbucks, for the brain fuel…! Finally – thank you to everyone who has been following this blog! Thank you for coming to find me on facebook, for sending the emails to tell me how it is helping you, and for giving me the encouragement I often needed to keep going!

Henry Ford once said “If you believe you can do something, or you believe you can't, both times you are right.” Whether you are just starting out, just finishing, or just considering doing a course, simply believe you can do it, and you will.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

Love Nicky x

Tokyo, October 2010