I'm a passionate autodidact, but too often my projects finish flat.

When people were first touting 'cohort based online courses' I thought it was a bit silly, since every class in school was 'cohort based'. I worried that a course being 'cohort based' might actually detract from what I love about online learning: it's asynchronous, the best lessons from the best professors crystallized.

Now I'm doing two cohort based courses simultaneously, and I love both of them.

Built in friends and energy

No one forces you to do an online course.

Gone are the days of unmotivated, uninterested classmates. The self selection that has already happened for people to embark on a course you're considering means that they share a passion with you, and are hyper motivated.

My favorite part about Ship 30 for 30 is the breakout rooms at the end of live sessions.

This might be the quarantine talking, but getting to hang with interesting people from all over the world was worth the entire price of the course.

Accountability

If I don't practice piano every day, the video I turn in to be reviewed will be bad.

I won't get in trouble, there is no grade, but I won't let it happen.

If I don't ship my essay for the day no one will even notice, but I'll still have to see everyone else's work in my timeline.

A Clear Path

Every day I sit down at the piano with a minute by minute checklist of what to do. The on-boarding for Ship 30 for 30 was similarly detailed.

I have a thousand things going on in my life, and being able to remove decisions from the learning equation has made it easy to stay on track. I simply set the time I'm going to do the work, the rest takes care of itself.

Cohort based learning is dynamic, constantly being stress tested and improved. I've become a convert, and I'm excited to participate in new communities.