Keep buying courses you never finish? Try this approach instead

When you buy a course that you never finish (or even start) it could be because the course itself isn't really designed for action or perhaps there's something going on within you that's stopping you from completing it. In today's episode, I'm sharing some insights into why we keep collecting online courses that we don't use and what to do instead.

– The reasons why you're buying online courses that you never get around to completing.
– How exploring these reasons can help you to understand if it's a course problem or something within you.
– Why buying and collecting courses is easier than *actually* taking action.
– How looking for an external “magic pill” to save you (or your business) will stop you from taking responsibility.
– The 3 action steps you can take today to help you prioritise the modules or courses that will lead to imperfect action.

 

 
Today's episode is for all of you who have a habit of buying courses and then never taking action on them, never completing them. I've been guilty of this in the past as well. And today I'm going to share a couple of reasons why you have a stack of online courses that you've never completed and how you can start to take action on all of the different ones that you've invested in this year so that it isn't this waste of money that you're telling yourself it was so that you don't feel guilty for having spent the money on those investments.

 

So, why do you have a stack of online courses that you've never completed? 

Well, sometimes it's going to be the course's fault. Sometimes it might be because the course itself isn't designed for you to take action. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there in the online space who are good at selling and not great at delivery. They're great at getting you.

Unfortunately, when somebody tries to over-deliver and adds everything that they can into the course, it can be overwhelming. 

I'm not giving homework for homework's sake. Whenever I have a workbook, it's a workbook that's designed to make implementation easier.

Now, that's one of the reasons why you might have collected courses that aren't right. But chances are that if it's been multiple different courses that you've bought and never taken action on, have you potentially considered that it's not the course's fault that you haven't completed it?

And that if it's multiple different courses that you haven't been able to finish, it actually might be something within you. And I know that's a really difficult thing to face, but the truth is that it is much easier to buy and collect courses than it is to take real action in your business. 

Buying courses is easy and even watching the lessons is easy, but implementing what you've learned, and taking action is challenging. Taking action can bring up all sorts of fears, which might lead to you procrastinating, waiting till the right time to begin, waiting for everything to feel perfect, and waiting until you're less afraid. 

 

The right time doesn’t exist.

And guess what? The right time doesn't exist. Perfect doesn't exist. You're not going to feel less afraid until you take that action. And it creates this loop of procrastinating. I'm procrastinating and now I feel bad because I've spent money on this course that I'm not using. 

And then you avoid it and you procrastinate more and then you feel bad and you avoid it. You procrastinate more and it becomes a spiral of just not feeling great. And the only way out of that is to take action. 

Unfortunately, that is the only way to get out of it. Maybe you keep buying online courses because you are looking for something external to save you and it's easier to keep searching for a magic pill than it is to face the fact that you are responsible for your business and you are the only one who can take that action and get your business to where you want it to be.

Nobody else can take that action for you. You have to do it. And anything unfamiliar and new, it's going to feel scary in your business. It's going to feel a lot like you are headed down the wrong path just because you are not used to taking these kinds of risks. 

So the bad news is that there is no online course that is going to be the magic pill for your business but the good news is the magic pill is within you. The magic pill is an imperfect action, and it's going to feel a little bit scary. 

Now I'm guessing you probably don't feel so great about the fact that you have invested in these things and you haven't used them. I have been there before and I've beat myself up internally about the fact that I have spent money on something I haven't used.

But here's the thing. Worrying about decisions you have made in the past, is a waste of time and energy. You can't change it, so why worry about it? Instead of wasting time and energy regretting the 500 courses you bought last year, you could easily go and put that same time and energy into making 500 in your business.

 

Create a priority plan.

Now, the easiest way to start taking action on the courses is to create a priority plan. Looking at that whole pile of courses that you have might feel a little bit overwhelming. Where do you even begin? What do you do next? And then you end up doing nothing because you feel so overwhelmed by how many there are.

So instead create a little spreadsheet where you list out all of the courses that you have and why you signed up for them, what you were hoping to get out of each of those courses. Then create a list of your current priorities in your business at the moment and ask yourself, what do I need to learn to achieve these priorities?

Then write out a plan in order of which courses or even if you want to get more granular, which modules or which lessons within the courses you're going to complete. And in which order to help you to meet those current priorities in your business.

 

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