Why People Take SO LONG to Get Started?

[jsd]

This is a great topic.

For me it was a bit of #1, and a bit of #3.

I was a lazy high school student and didn't take school seriously. I was constantly told I was "too smart for my own good' but that I didn't apply myself. I was a bad student and assumed I would always be a bad student, and in fact my first term in community college I continued this pattern until I eventually just stopped attending class resulting in failing grades.

After I established a decent career and matured a bit, learning how to apply myself, I starting taking community college courses here and there until it eventually led to an AA. I realized I loved the learning, but I hated the time sink.

I hated wasting my time butt in seat, and the pace was killing me as it felt like much of the time I was spending was just waiting for some of my peers to catchup instead of actually learning much. Online courses alleviated some of this, but were still a bit of a slog as the pacing was structured for those who might need extra time to pick up on concepts.

When I found out there was self-paced options, it opened up a brand new world for me. The time sink was no longer an issue, as I didn't have to slow down for anyone else (and I could go slow on topics for which I was the one slow on the uptake).

Now it feels weird to NOT be working on some sort of academic goal!