Studious CPA

It doesn’t need to be this stressful. One thing we should realize about the CPA exam is that much of the stress we experience isn’t just from the material or the upcoming test, but from what we tell ourselves about the process. Studying will be stressful, but it’s those nagging thoughts like, “You’ll never pass this section” or “You’re going to fail, and all your efforts will be for nothing” that really amplify the pressure. Take the time to ask yourself, “What are the thoughts around my exam stress that are making it worse?” There are a lot of aspects of the CPA exam journey we can’t control, like unexpected life events or the difficulty of certain topics. But what makes it even harder is the “critical inner voice” we all have that punishes us unnecessarily and worsens our anxiety. “How can you take a break? You haven’t studied enough.” “What makes you think you’ll be able to pass?” “This exam is just too hard—you’re not cut out for this.” This voice feeds into our stress, creating a mental environment where stress can thrive, which also makes learning MUCH harder. By identifying this “inner critic” and recognizing when it starts to take over, we can separate its negative messaging from the real challenges we face and approach our exam prep with a clearer, calmer mindset.

If you only think about the entirety of everything you need to study and learn for the CPA exam it’s easy to be intimidated into not taking any action. Instead, if you choose to focus on just one day at a time and consistently show up and follow your plans and routines, those daily wins will stack up over time and add up to so much progress!

That initial hesitation and urge to procrastinate when you sit down to study is often the biggest hurdle to overcome on most days. That’s when all of a sudden you want to check your phone, clean up a little bit, go fold your laundry, anything to distract yourself from the unpleasantness of studying. So how do we overcome this barrier? Instead of telling yourself you’re gonna have to study for hours today, trick yourself by saying you just need to do five minutes and then you’ll be good. More often than not you will start to enter a groove and flow and it will be easier to keep going after that.

Pretty much by definition, you can’t do the CPA exam altogether at once. You have to string together small daily wins for many, many months! If you get caught up in thinking about everything you have to do, it will overwhelm you and lead to procrastination. But if you focus on just the very next step right in front of you, you will feel much more confident in your ability to get it done! Remember, we overestimate what we can do today but underestimate what we can do in a year! #CPAexam #FocusOnTheNextStep #SmallDailyWins

“I can’t pass the CPA exam because (fill in the blank here with your unique obstacle).” While no one has faced exactly the same challenges as you, I would bet there are other people who have faced something that is at least similar, yet they still were able to pass. If they were able to do it then that means you can too! This is the rare way comparison can actually be helpful: when it is for inspiration! Look at what others in similar situations did, learn from their path and their mistakes, and accelerate your progress!

Studying for the CPA exam in small doses make it easy to do daily. If you want to study for many hours a day, that is only sustainable for awhile. Eventually you’ll run out of energy, or things will get busy and you won’t have the time for your hours long session. Maybe you’ll miss 2-3 days in a row, and now you’ve lost motivation, and you’re discouraged. So then you end up totally abandoning the routine. It can be better to study in small doses, because it’s easier to get started when you know you’re just doing 15-30 minutes, and it’s easier to find the time and motivation for small sessions.

As you study for the CPA exam, have you ever thought to yourself “My mistakes today prove that I am a failure?” This mindset will drive yourself crazy. Everyone has bad days. Elijah Watts Sells award winners have bad days. Finish each day and be done with it. You have done the best you could. Some mistakes happened, but forgive and forget them as soon as you can. Remember, your failure does not define you, your determination does. Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, smarter than before. Failure shows you where you need to focus and improve. Tomorrow is a new day. You should begin it peacefully and with too high a spirit to be dragged down by a bad yesterday.