This page is simply a diary of some of my progress on my learning journey. Ironically it might be more bloggy than the weblog...

It initially covered the NLP evening course I did with Sarah Autumn 2003. See this dairy here.

01-DEC-03: I've managed to secure funding from work for my Open University Diploma in Business Systems (more info). I can't believe I'm a student again, after leaving Uni I promised myself I'd never do another exam, now not only have I done most of an A level, I'm enrolling on another undergraduate program (the diploma is half the second and third years of a BSc)! All in all I feel that the love of learning that 17 years of formal education tried to beat out of me is returning and for now I can't get enough...

I think the course is going to be great, it will be very useful for any job, equipping me with analytical tools and concepts. It will also be fascinating for me personally, touching on my interests in complexity and ways of seeing the world. It even has a personal development angle in that it helps to develop systems thinking - a way of seeing the 'structures' that underlie complex situations

12-DEC-03: Well, that's it, I've sent off all the registration documents and now the rest is up to me. Apparently I have to sign something that says I'll pay the money back to work if I leave the organisation during the course. It's two years! Can't really consider what it might be like to be there another two years - I've not quite stayed there for the first two yet!

OU aside, James (top mate and frequent suggestor to arrod) has highlighted the wonder of mentoring for the grad school programme. The aim of their course is to develop key skills in postgraduates. James went on one of them and loved it, as did the fabulous Sarah, my partner. The course are very intensive and generally sound right up my street. The idea of being a mentor is simply that you take part as well as the postgrads, but can also contribute some experience from the workplace.

They have to charge to cover their costs, and at over £700 for the week it's way out of my league. I've had some nice positive correspondence with them on email and am going to try and persuade work to pay for it once they forgotten that they've already forked out money for my OU course...

21-JAN-04: As part of my learning journey I am making sure I have a goal to work towards. One of my long term goals is my learning plan. Another was to understand what I want to be, and I completed this in my NLP course last year: see this dairy here. Now my goal is to decide what to do with that new knowledge about myself: to make a decision with regards to my career direction by the end of February.

All of this arose from an unexpected opportunity to have some life-coaching. I was awarded a red-letter day experience for work on the staff suggestion committee. Not being a huge fan of heights or strenuous activity I was finding it difficult to get rid of, when they started offering life-coaching as an experience.

Needless to say I jumped at the chance and soon met Usha Nair from One2One Professional Coaching Ltd. She got me to complete a wheel of life in preparation, and then I was to meet her in a London hotel for just one hour...

In one hour Usha transformed me from someone who had a growing idea that things were not right for me into a man who had made difficult decisions and had an action plan to follow to correct this. Simply put she empowered me.

Later on I was to receive a follow-up conversation, but I have decided to write an article on the experience, so see the full story here.