Losing Focus and Motivation

T

The Nature Boy

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Aside form exorbitant amounts of caffeine – What is your strategy for maintaining your focus and motivation when it starts to slip?
 
Think about why you are doing it and how good it’s going to feel to open that pass email. Or if you’re more motivated by fear, then imagine opening a “We regret to inform you…” email.
 
Ask yourself: Do I want to spend another winter/spring studying for a CFA exam? That’s what kept me focused last year; I wanted my nice Spring weekends back…
 
Just imagine when you pass you’ll be able to put CFA on your business cards and get tattoos with the designation. I’m gonna get one on my neck. Just above collar line so it can be seen at meetings. You?
 
And if I do pass, on my back I’m going to get a tat that says “Passed each level on first attempt.”
 
i updated my email signature block to add “CFA” after my name and printed it out and taped it to my monitor for motivation. almost there!
 
vida_blue wrote:
Just imagine when you pass you’ll be able to put CFA on your business cards and get tattoos with the designation. I’m gonna get one on my neck. Just above collar line so it can be seen at meetings. You?
Click to expand...
Hahaha I love it!
 
Also, focusing on how much you’re learning is helpful. I don’t think a lot of this stuff is directly relevant to my job but I can see how it can come in useful one day. I feel like I’ve learned a lot more than I would have if not taking level 3. And I feel like after 5 weeks more of focus, I’ll be able to think more intelligently about currency, strategic allocation of assets, swaps, etc.
There’s never one right way to do things in finance (as in life). So having a more skills and knowledge at your disposal helps you think about financial problems on more levels.
 
Another thing to consider is creating “micro” treats. You study an hour you get X, etc. Then, to keep on track, block out the study times and try to stick with them.
Finally, dont let any zero days (days off) compound. small bits of time spent studying add up.
 
We all go through these bouts of despair, especially in crunch time. No matter how hard you’ve studied, there’s still so much to go through still. Still so much to get through: mocks, memorize, re-read some entire sections, make sure you don’t forget what you’ve memorized, more mocks, BBs, practice tests, qbank, flashcards, check the forum, procrastinate, beat yourself up, start back…all this with a gorgeous temperature outside.
But hey, think about the fact that
1) you’ve done this before
2) you don’t entertain doing this again
3) all your coworkers that have the designation, especially the ones you feel are total idiots (we all know one). You’re not gonna let them have that on you are you? You’re not gonna let them say: “yeah he failed the exam that idiot”…talking about you. Or are you?
4) think about the feeling when the email from CFA Institute starts with “Congratulations”
5) Imagine “or at least hope” that the more you study, the more you’re gonna walk in confident that you’re gonna pass. Kill that anxiety in advance.
6) Think that no matter what happened on June 4, you are a free person on June 5. Only 5 weeks left until that relief so give it your best in the final sprint
7) I have stamped on my wall a business card with the letters manually written after my name.
8) Become obsessive about it for 5 weeks. Become a CFA soldier. Pretend like you like this.
9) I could continue but I’m too worked up now. Off to a mock.
 
I deactivated my facebook, deleted all the games on Steam, and I’m still able to procrastinate somehow…I’m unemployed in a third world country without any hope of finding a job in investment industry and so much pressure from parents and stuffs… I like this CFA program so much but it’s more like a love-hate thing now :D
Anyways, have fun preparing boys :D
 
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