I always found that balancing the studying which became tediuos,and then doing a few fun trips especially near the London airports kept me focused and the ball rolling.
Personally i found the ground school much harder than the IR or CPL training which i enjoyed!!!
After this to be quite frank unless your really,really lucky it's time to work your way up the ladder(like any proffession) by instructing,banner towing etc.You won't beleive how much better you will become even compared to your CPL training.It's good fun(rubbish money) but again a good natural step in the ladder.
For god's sake don't mope round claiming the hour building route is irrelevant as it fashionably appears to be now.
The chief pilot probably came that way and with their experience know the benfits.
I hope your lucky and allt he best