Self-Discipline: Your Most Important Tool for Online Education

My sister Christina decided that getting her bachelor’s degree online was the best way for her to continue her education. She signed up with a well-known university, choosing four different classes. When school began, Chris took a very relaxed approach to her classes, and whenever I asked her how her work was going, she’d tell me that she had plenty of time to get her work done because she never had to actually attend classes. However, when the middle of the semester rolled around, my sister was in tears most of the time because she had failed to organize herself and now owed so much work to all of her teachers that she would never catch up. When all was said and done, she had learned an important lesson about taking classes online, and that is the value of self-discipline.
While taking online classes do offer some measure of relaxation and give you the ability to set your own schedule most of the time, when you do sign up for them, you need to remember that they are still college courses and that you will need to organize your time and workload. Online classes are in no way a free ride, but many students think that just because they don’t have to go to a classroom to learn that they’re going to get a free A. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and you will have to learn how to keep yourself motivated so that when the time comes, you have the knowledge to write that term paper or take that important test.
One of the best ways to organize your time and assignments is to keep a detailed calendar. If you want to make it fun, set amusing alarms on your smartphone or carry a pocket-sized calendar to remind you when things are due because chances are your professor isn’t going to remind you. No matter what supplies you buy for your online classes, without self-discipline, your chances of success are greatly reduced.