Top 5 Life-Changing Lessons from the CPA Exam

That is it. I am done. I have passed all four parts of the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Exam!  I found that out just a couple of days ago. Thank you! Thank you! I am excited that I am done with the exam. It was no easy task. My journey started all they way back in February,2009. I took my last test October 2nd, 2009.  It is total of eight months that I have spent studying for the exam. Finally, the baby was born.

It was a journey filled with challenges, sometimes hopelessness, sometimes happiness, but it was mostly filled with tons of studying and learning. I learned more than I thought I would. Of course, I learned all about auditing, taxes, business law, financial accounting and reporting, economics and so on. However, some of the most valuable lessons I have learned came from the experience itself. That is what I want to share with the rest of you. I had to learn these things the hard way, and I want to share them with you to make your life easier.

Here it goes. Top 5 Lessons from the CPA Exam:

• Pace Yourself. Any major undertaking in life will require a lot of effort and time. Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to become a great communicator? Do you want to become a leader? Do you want to be great at X? If you answered “Yes”, to any of the above questions then you will have to pace yourself. You have to do just the right amount every day to accomplish your goals. If you do too much – you will get burnt out. If you do too little – you will never achieve your goals. So figure out, what it is that you want to be great at or what you want to accomplish and start taking small steps every day towards that goal. Over time, it will seem that you are not doing much, but the accumulation of those small daily actions will yield the result that you were looking for. That leads directly to my next point.

• Be Patient. Patience is truly a virtue. I remember so many times I wanted for the exam to be over; I wanted to be done with it; I wanted to have my results yesterday. Yet, no matter how hard I wished for something, it never happened any sooner that it should have. Sometimes, I wanted to know everything today, but it seemed that I was getting nowhere. It seemed that time was standing still and that my studies were yielding no fruit. I had to stay motivated and keep doing those small steps along the way and stay patient and not get frustrated. It was tough at first. But eventually I realized that with time, it will all make sense. And it did. Being patient and pacing myself helped me stay sane, motivated and frustration free. In short, be patient and trust yourself and the results will come…eventually.

• Eliminate Distractions. The biggest hurdle in most people’s lives in achieving something great is distractions. During my studies, I encountered many distractions: friends wanting to go out or hang out, watching a lazy movie, going on a date and so on. Yet, I knew that if I wanted to stay focused, I had to eliminate things that were using my energy, but were no getting me to where I wanted to go. Same applies to real life situations. If you have set a purpose or a goal in life and you want to achieve it – eliminate distractions. Those distractions might be more subtle in life. They may come in the form of unhealthy relationships, activities, environments, hobbies, addictions and so on.  It is important to become aware of them and then eliminate them to clear your mind and regain focus.

• Be Flexible. Some things are not within your control. You have to admit and deal with it. In the course of my studies, various things would come up ranging from work related issues to family related issues. Things would come up  that I could not just avoid or eliminate. I would have to deal with them. Understand that things in life rarely go just like you planned. Most of the time they do not. It is important to expect them and when they do happen deal with them as soon as possible. If you stay flexible and are able to work around life to get to where you want to get in life, you will be successful. Getting frustrated and angry at random unpleasant events in your life will get you no where. It will just waste your energy and slow your progress. Stay flexible and solve problems when they come up.

• Remember what matters. Sometimes I would get lost in the midst of the studies. I would forget to live a life. I would eliminate everything that I thought was a distraction, but it was because I was letting it become one. It is important to remember to live a life while you are focusing on your goals. Remember the important relationships that matter to you. Remember the activities that you enjoy doing. Remember doing things that make you happy and fulfilled. Although it is important to stay on course to where you are going, it is even more important to be able to enjoy life no matter what.  Remember why you are doing certain things. Why are you getting your CPA? Why are you doing X? In my case, I wanted to get the CPA to open up more doors and become more competitive so I can get a job and do the things I like with the people I love.  But sometimes I would forget to do those things while studying for the CPA. Don’t make that mistake. Remember what matters in your life and remember why you are doing certain things in life.

I hope that you are able to learn and apply the lessons above to your personal life. Let is serve you as a small reminder of what is truly important in life and how to get what you want in life without compromising.