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If you’re looking for motivation tips for studying for and passing the CPA exams, then you’ll find this video series very valuable. In this video, we’ll cover tip #1 of 31, and it’s the “difference-maker” that has nothing to do with studying.
So tip #1 is to make the “all-in” commitment. That might sound extremely cliche, boring, and unhelpful, but let me explain what I mean…
Fully committing to the overall process – and being willing to do whatever it takes – can easily be the difference between candidates who pass and candidates who fail.
Embrace the Grind
Valuable things take a lot of work, and passing the CPA exams is no different. Getting the CPA is the most high-leverage thing you can do for your career, but it’s going to be a long, hard process. There will be many days – more often than not – that the last thing you’ll feel like doing is sitting down and grinding through a few hours of CPA study.
It helps a lot to simply think through that fact, and just accept it. Accept that it’s going to be hard, that it’s not going to be very fun, and that it’s going to take a lot of time and effort. But… if you put together a plan & overall strategy, and then execute that strategy, the study process and passing each exam can be very rewarding and satisfying. That leads us to the next step…
Have a Clear Plan & Strategy
As mentioned above, consistently studying day in and day out quickly becomes a mental and emotional struggle for most candidates. The way that you turn this around is by having an overall plan and strategy that you’re confident in, that you know will pay off. Then, as the weeks go by, you feel more and more confident where most candidates feel more and more stressed out and overwhelmed as the test gets closer.
A.B.S. – Always Be Studying
Doing your main study session each day goes without saying… You obviously need to study every day to even have a chance of passing the CPA exams. However, in most cases, the once-daily-study-session isn’t enough. You can get dramatically better results by adding in what I call “mini sessions”, which basically means also studying from your phone all throughout the rest of your day, every time you have even just a few minutes. When you walk to the bathroom at the office, instead of pulling out your phone and scrolling through Instagram, read a few pages of review notes or go through a few questions.
This habit – and actually making it a habit – was the difference maker for me, and the whole idea behind SuperfastCPA… there weren’t study supplements that were specifically designed to be used from your phone.
You also need to be willing to give up your favorite time wasters, both for your main study session and what you do when you pull your phone out.
When you sit down to study, there’s an emotional release to spending the first few minutes going to your favorite sites like Facebook or ESPN, but that quickly turns into a 1 to 2 hour rabbit hole. It’s amazing what your subconscious mind will compel you to do to avoid studying. Many a study session have been ruined by the thought, “I’ll just look at my Facebook real quick…”
I know this sounds intense, but you need to view any spare minute you have as an opportunity to increase your chances of passing by using it to study, that applies to both 1) making every minute of your daily study session count and 2) putting your smartphone to good use instead of using it look at your favorite time wasters all day.