From Dozens of Courses to One Real Breakthrough

Your Course Graveyard: Why Good Intentions Aren't Enough

I used to blame myself. I paid hard-earned money for online courses to help me improve. I was motivated by the pain of an emptier wallet, the excitement of learning something new, and the promise of a new me. Despite all of that, I was accumulating a growing list of online courses I never finished.

The courses that I never finished? I could see the effort and quality that went into crafting them. I took courses in marketing, sales, engineering, storytelling. You name it. There’s a good chance you heard about or even took some of them. I still didn’t finish them.

Until a year ago.

I was consistent. I showed up every day and did all of the exercises. I learned real lessons and applied them directly in my professional life. The difference was that it wasn’t built like a course. It was built (and framed) as a challenge.

For the first time, I couldn’t wait until the next session. I protected my time religiously and had my notebook open and ready before each class. I connected with the other students over WhatsApp and still stay in touch with them.

Nothing like the on-demand courses sitting abandoned in my account. Here’s a stat that blew my mind. 85-88% of learners don’t finish online courses. This is the most generous statistic that I could find, with other sources going as high as 97%.

Turns out, it wasn’t just me. It’s human nature.

But here’s what everyone misses: the problem isn’t your discipline. You’re plenty disciplined at work, at the gym, with your kids. The problem is that online courses are designed like books when they should be designed like teams.

That challenge I took? It had three things every abandoned course in my graveyard was missing.

Why your course graveyard keeps growing

Problem one: You’re learning alone

You’re sitting in front of your computer. The instructor recorded this six months ago. There’s a comment section, but it’s either crickets or someone asking “Where’s the download link?”

You hit a confusing part. You rewind. Watch again. Still don’t get it.

There’s nobody to turn to and ask “Wait, did you understand that?” Nobody to explain it differently. Nobody to tell you that yeah, this part is actually confusing and here’s how they figured it out.

I still remember my Physics TA freshman year telling us the secret to passing his brutal course. Study partners. Not because they’re smarter. Because explaining something to another human forces you to actually understand it.

Digital courses skip this completely. You’re on your own.

Problem two: Life happens, and nothing stops you from quitting

Week one: You’re motivated. You block time. You take notes. You’re doing this.
Week two: Big project at work. You skip one session. It’s fine, you’ll catch up this weekend.
Week three: The course is still sitting there. Waiting. You’ll get back to it.
Week six: You’ve forgotten you even bought it.

The problem isn’t your discipline. You show up for work meetings. You make it to your kid’s soccer games. You hit the gym.

The difference? Those have consequences. Your boss notices if you skip the meeting. Your kid notices if you miss the game. Your running buddy texts you “Where are you?”

Digital courses have no consequences. They just sit there. Forever patient. Forever guilt-inducing.

Problem three: Nobody adapts to how YOU learn

Here’s what happened in that challenge I took last year.

I asked a question about applying the framework to my specific situation as a new solopreneur. The instructor didn’t just answer my question. He listened deeply and then showed me three different approaches I could take.

Then another student said “Wait, I work at a startup. Would this work for me?” The instructor adapted the same framework to their context. Different constraints, different approach.

You can’t get that from a pre-recorded video.

Learning isn’t about absorbing information. It’s about connecting new concepts to what you already know. A great teacher adapts their metaphors, their examples, their entire approach to match where you are.

Digital courses can’t do that. They’re one-size-fits-all. Which means they’re one-size-fits-nobody.

How to actually finish what you start

I tried fixing digital courses first.

Time-based releases. Study partners. Scheduled calls to discuss what we learned. It helped. But coordinating schedules? Finding someone interested in the same niche topic? Hard.

Then I took that challenge last year. Live cohort. Real people. Fixed schedule.

Everything changed.

You get instant answers from people like you

Week two of the challenge. I was stuck on how to apply the framework to my LinkedIn strategy. I posted in the WhatsApp group at 11pm.

By morning, three other creators had responded with how they tackled similar situations. One worked at agency. Another was getting a non-profit off the ground. Different contexts, same framework, different approaches.

I learned more from those three messages than I would have from rewinding the video 10 times.

The more you engage with other students, the more you get out of it. Not because you’re being a good community member. Because their questions surface gaps you didn’t know you had. Their contexts force you to think differently about the same concept.

You show up because people notice when you don’t

Week three. Big family obligations. I almost skipped the session.

But I knew Sarah and Marcus would ask where I was. I knew I’d have to explain next week why I missed it. I knew I’d be the only one lost when they referenced what happened.

So I showed up. Tired, distracted, but there.

That’s the difference. There’s a recording, sure. But you won’t watch it later. You know it. I know it. The recording is a safety net you’ll never use.

The live session forces you to protect that time. To show up even when you don’t feel like it. To actually do the homework because you don’t want to be the only one who didn’t.

Is this annoying sometimes? Yes. Does it lead to actually integrating what you learn into your real life? Also yes.

You can ask YOUR questions in real-time

My favorite part. Direct access to the instructor.

I asked how to handle a specific situation where I wanted to grow across social networks. The instructor didn’t give me a generic answer. He drew out my exact scenario, asked clarifying questions, then walked me through three different approaches based on my specific constraints.

You can’t get that from a video.

Here’s the move: prepare questions before each session. Write them down. Bring your actual problems, your actual context, your actual constraints.

You didn’t pay to hear someone talk. You paid for them to adapt their knowledge to your unique situation. That only happens if you ask.

What I do differently now

I still sell courses. But I changed how I build them.

For quick wins, I make them short enough to finish in one sitting. Like The Essence of Management. Turns out if you can complete something in 90 minutes, you actually will.

For everything else? Live cohorts only.

Every cohort is different. Some are mostly younger managers at startups. Others are experienced leaders at Meta, Amazon, Google. The content adapts to who shows up and what they need.

That’s the point. The humans matter more than the curriculum.

I’m done contributing to course graveyards. Including my own.

If you’re sitting on a pile of unfinished courses, you’re not broken. The model is. You don’t need more discipline. You need other humans learning alongside you.

Join the next cohort or grab a course you can finish today.

Either way, stop blaming yourself for a design problem.