I’m Going To B-School!

I never thought I’d be going back to school — but I am!  Today is the very first day of Marie Forleo’s B-School and I couldn’t be happier to get started.  I found Marie a few weeks ago through Twitter and have been devouring her content ever since. She teaches people how to be entrepreneurs and turn their passions into much more.

It’s an 8-week online course and there are people from almost every inch of the globe participating.  Just check out the map of participants — insane, right?  I’ve done a few continuing education classes here and there since graduating college. I’ve taken a novel writing class, a children’s book writing class and of course a bunch of cooking classes — but never anything like this.

Getting ready for class has been exciting and scary.  Here’s a list of my preps in case you find yourself in a similar situation one day:

1.  Get a notebook you love.  Seriously — this helps calm my fears.  I chose a notebook that a close friend gave me for my birthday — so it has some sentimental value.  It’s the perfect size to stick in my purse if I need to take my work on the road.  And the best part is the cover.  It’s plastered with stamps from fabulous places all over the world that I want to visit.  It’s an excellent inspiration for the traveling I’d like to do in the future.

2.  Set up Evernote:  You know how much I love Evernote and there is no way I could embark on something this big without it.  I use it to organize my life, this blog, and take notes on just about everything. B-School will be no different.  I’ve already made a few notebooks dedicated to this class and keeping track of all the PDFs, handouts and homework!  Yay!

3.  Spread the Word: Whenever you’re really excited about something — you should share it.  A friend of mine is doing this class with me and we’ve been chatting about it for weeks!  Another plus to talking about something that you’re committing to is that you’ll be held accountable.  So now you have to follow through because you’ve said it out loud!  It’s the good kind of pressure, don’t worry.

4.  Set Aside Time: Everyone wants more time in the day — and people often tell me it’s too hard to carve out some for things they really want to do.  I think you may not be thinking about all the time you waste — checking Facebook, going to dinner with friends you don’t even like because you feel bad, signing up for committees you’re not committed to, etc.  Check out where you spend your time — I’m sure you can find time to give back to yourself.

5.  Start Before You’re Ready: This is the foundation of what Marie teaches – she says you may never truly be ready to start something big.  So just jump in and do it!  You’ll talk yourself out of it time and time again — so push yourself to do it.  And that’s exactly what I’m doing!