Misplaced Cognitive Surplus?

After taking yet another chapter quiz on Wednesday night, I sat down to write a post about how I was fed up with my MBA program. I had just lost points on a multiple choice question when I couldn't see how my response was wrong. I was thinking about how much time I've been spending on these MBA classes, and I started considering all the other things that I could have been doing with that time. Maybe I could have read some different books or had more energy to play with my kids. I've been yearning for something related to my research to gain enough critical mass for me to prepare a publication. I finally have that, but I'm spending all my time preparing for multiple choice quizzes so I can keep getting A's. It just didn't seem worth the effort.

Rather than writing the post, I wrote an email to my econ instructor asking about the question. She replied to my message the next morning and agreed that the question was poorly worded. She ended up giving me credit for my response. I suddenly didn't feel so bad about all the time I've been spending on my classes. This change in my mood opened my eyes to how much my class performance colors my perception of the class experience. That made me a little sad. I went into the MBA program looking to earn a credential and signal to my superiors that I was serious about broadening my skill base. I didn't have any particular interest in the topics of the classes. I wanted a project and an online MBA program offered enough of a potential return on my time, money, and energy to justify the required resources. I told myself that I wasn't going to worry about the grades. I'd focus on what I found interesting and do what was needed to keep going through the program. Now my primary focusing is maintaining my A average.

Part of my frustration with the program was rooted in the fact that I didn't think the material that I have been studying for the last year and a month or so was going to be more than an intellectual exercise. That changed today. I have been giving an opportunity to give my boss's boss's boss (who used to be my direct boss, if that clears anything up) input on ways to improve the operation of the analytical labs. I didn't realize how much all of this business stuff had changed the way I think about the value that my daily activities add to the company. I was able to directly apply insights that I've had from my classes (and a few random blog posts) to justify my proposal for managing and organizing the labs. Maybe I haven't been wasting my time after all.