Challenge:

The challenge I was faced with is that I needed to go back to college to finish my degree. I had supported  my husband the past 4 years so he could finish his schooling and now it was my turn to get mine done. I  had started college right after high school but dropped out my junior year to go back to work full time  after having my daughter. It had been 12 years since that time and I was unsure how I could make this  work. How could I afford to go back to school as well as manage responsibilities of work, home, family,  and now school?  Financial and time constraints kept me from continuing and completing school, but  this time I needed to defeat these excuses and my internal fears. If I went back to school, I could get that  diploma which would give me a sense of accomplishment from achieving a goal as well as be a key to  open doors of opportunities.

Selection:

The design tool I decided to use to assist me with the challenge was Mind Mapping. The Mind Mapping  tool looks for patterns and insights in the large quantity of data that has been collected during the  exploration of “what is”. I needed to look at the possibilities and see what parts of my daily life would be  affected if I decided to go back to school. There were so many questions that I needed to answer before  I could formally decide to take on this endeavor. Would I still work full-time? How will I pay for school?  What will I study? When will I have time to study? How will home responsibilities like meal preparation  and cleaning be handled? I wanted to have a plan in place to ease my anxiety so that this experience  would have minimal impact on other areas of my life, yet successfully graduate.

Application:

To figure out how to accomplish the goal of going back to school, to start to see what the “what if”  looked like, I needed to tackle the 3 main obstacles which were: money to pay for school, time  management and selecting a degree. I used the Mind Mapping tool to start the process to figure how to  overcome this challenge. I wrote down all the questions I had, then the steps I needed to take, and  added the emotions I felt. As I asked, “what is” and “what if” questions, I came up with solutions to the  barriers. Organized “to do” lists and schedules, as well as support of others in the process was very  important to fulfilling the dream of finishing school.

The money blocks were taken down easily. I was currently working full time and needed to know if I  should go down to part time or just take classes part time. I reviewed my income and made a list of the  monthly bills that I was responsible for. Even though I recently got a raise, it would not be enough to  cover the costs if I worked part time. Also, there were not enough funds available to pay for school right  away, so I decided to apply for financial aid and take out student loans and felt comfortable taking on a  student loan bill once I graduated. I decided to work full-time and take 2 classes at a time. It seemed  that I didn’t really have the funds to go back to school but felt that if I could make the time to do it, I  could make it work.

Time- management was a huge obstacle in my way of achieving my degree. Once I knew I would be  working full-time and school was part time, I needed to figure out how I could successfully carry out all

the other responsibilities in my life on top of time taking classes and homework. To optimize my time, I  had to engage help. I needed to collaborate with my husband and then with my daughter. I used co-  creation by inviting these “key stakes holders”, my family who would be affected the most by my choice,  to assist in the process of managing the day to day activities while I am in school.

To help with the household work, so I wouldn’t have the burden of doing all or most of it, we created a  family chore list. The list included all the major tasks that needed to be done daily or weekly. We divided  them up by how much time the work would take or how hard the chore was and created balanced  groups of chores. We had three groups of chores that would rotate monthly between the three of us.  The creation of the chore list would assist me by freeing up time because others were participating in  these daily responsibilities.

I needed to get organized with the meal preparation and grocery shopping. These two events can be  very time consuming in themselves, so I needed to be proactive. Every week, I would plan what meals  would be prepared. With this list, I created a grocery list, so I knew all the ingredients for the recipes and  meals that needed to be cooked for the week. To save time, I shopped for the groceries once a week  whenever possible to avoid taking multiple trips. Additionally, if there was time on the weekend, I would  cook multiple dinners to have as leftovers throughout the week or while I attended classes. Being  proactive in creating the list of meals and groceries, would save precious time throughout the week.

Clear and consistent communication was extremely important. Keeping track of schedules- including all  appointments, due dates, concerts, activities, work and school schedules, etc. - needed to be something  the family and I all needed to be engaged in. To help resolve this, we hung a large monthly calendar in  the hallway where we could write in all that was happening, so we could all see this at any time. For  myself, so I would not forget anything, I decided to create lists in a notebook. I had a daily, weekly,  monthly to do and priority lists. I had my school assignment lists and when I would take the time to go  to the library to read, research or study. I had my list of things to do like chores that I was assigned, meal  preparation, errands to run for myself or family members, etc. Maintaining a family calendar and making  action lists would help me stay in communication and be organized with all the aspects of managing  daily life.

The major selection process went in this direction. I already had the school selected that I wanted to  attend. I then needed to take the actions needed to get back in school. I first needed to apply and then  get registered. In this process I needed to request my transcript from my previous college in NY, and  then meet with an advisor. With the help of an advisor, we reviewed the transcript of classes already  take. We determined which credits could transferred from several years ago, then create a schedule and  outline the plan of classes that I was required to take along with the classes I needed to fulfill the chosen  area of study. In our discussion, Psychology was my previous major, but then changed to be my minor.  In this helpful meeting, I instead chose classes that I was interested in and this led me to select the  Liberal Arts degree. In the end there was a list of classes to take and the schedule of when these classes  were available to be taken. If I followed this outline, I could finish my college education in 2 years, taking  2 classes at a time, including taking summer classes.

Insight:

If I decide to go back to school to finish my degree, it needed to be worth the work and hardship I may  go through. I needed to select a major that would be meaningful to me and possibly assist me in my  current or future career path. The knowledge I gain from school should be useful in my life and lead to  understanding new ideas and concepts as well as develop new skills. Additionally I needed reassurance  that it would have minimal negative impact on my family. We needed to be organized, communicate,  and manage time wisely in order to have peace.

If we did not use the calendar, follow the chore list, or not plan out the groceries for the week this could  create frustration that could lead to arguments. This burden and stress could keep me from being  focused or take time away from studying or getting a paper written. It was important for me to stay  organized with a daily/ weekly/ monthly to do list so I would not forget to get something done.  In the  end I graduated Summa Cum Laude because I maintained a high-grade point average.

The Mind Mapping Tool helped me to ask questions of “what is” and “what if” so I could evaluate the  challenge and then break it down into smaller pieces so that I could review what needed to be done to  overcome the challenges that stopped me from going back to school. It also allowed me to be creative  and come up with small solutions to aid me in the journey such as creating lists and maintaining a  schedule to stay organized and have open communication.

Approach:

In the Design Thinking module, it advised that “Through Mind Mapping, we extract meaning from data  in a way that lets patterns and insights emerge.” I believe Mind Mapping was effective because it helped  me identify the obstacles that I could face if I choose to go back to school. I realized that those  challenges of Time-management, selecting a major, and money issues were resolved when using this  tool. It helped me to understand that if I have specific approaches such as asking questions, making lists,  keeping a schedule, being organized, communication, and engage the support of my family, I could  accomplish this goal. I was so close to finishing college many years ago and I allowed just a couple of  challenges to keep me from the achievement of my goal and Mind Mapping helped me work through  these challenges. I don’t believe there could be another tool that would assist me in the way Mind  Mapping would. Visualization might be the closest tool that could be used, however my issue was not  that complex. In Visualization more symbols, pictures and images are used to understand thoughts and  ideas. My issue of going back to school was simple and straight forward, I just needed to figure out what  it would look like if I did it. The Mind Mapping Tool helped me to understand what I needed to do to  finish my college degree that could strengthen my career path, increase my knowledge and open new  opportunities.

