|
Focus on habits, build up successful habits
Goal-oriented habits are what will make you succeed in passing your exam. That rule applies to any other objective you set-out to attain in any area of your life. Successful people have successful habits; and success just means getting what you set-out to attain.
Most of the time, habits are not acquired consciously and hence, they are never questioned, whether they are supportive of our goals, or not. They continue to lead us to the same situations, time and again, because we rarely stop to question why we are acting the way we are.
Applying this principle to the goal of passing the RTRP exam, here are some habits that could stand on the way of attaining your goal. For example, lack of clarity about what you want (i.e. confusion or doubting what to do); habit of postponing making decisions; procrastinating on executing scheduled tasks; lacking a plan to schedule tasks for specific hours of the day (ineffective use of time); lacking a plan to maintain a high level of physical and mental energy during the entire day (i.e. taking a rest when the mind/body asks for it, not eating quality food to nourish body and mind), among others.
For me, it works like this. I know exactly what I want, which is to pass the RTRP exam on my first attempt. I think of a list of repetitive actions or tasks that will assure me of success in attaining that goal. I write it down. For example, I can say: upon getting up early in the morning (5am), the first thing I do is stretching and breathing exercises (30m); I drink a lot of water, sit to study for 90 minutes on scheduled topics, for each day. When I go to work, I carry my kindle or MP3 or iPod device, with my material in it, to study during any free time. I eat light food and include supplements (i.e. fish oil, omega3) that increase brain performance, I work out at the gym, have dinner, study for two hours, etc. Those are the specific set of repetitive behaviors that, if sustained for a period of time (some people say 3 or 4 weeks), they become habits.
What is a habit?
Here is Wikipedia's definition of a habit"
"Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously. Habitual behavior often goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting it, because a person does not need to engage in self-analysis when undertaking routine tasks.
Habituation is an extremely simple form of learning in which an organism, after a period of exposure to a stimulus, stops responding to that stimulus in varied manners. Habits are sometimes compulsory.
The process by which new behaviors become automatic is habit formation. Examples of habit formation are the following: If you instinctively reach for a cigarette the moment you wake up in the morning, you have a habit. Also, if you lace up your running shoes and hit the streets as soon as you get home, you've acquired a habit.
Old habits are hard to break and new habits are hard to form because the behavioral patterns we repeat are imprinted in our neural pathways".
Difference between habits and discipline
Habits are the end result of behaving in a certain way consistently over a long enough period of time. We are always disciplined to our current set of habits; we keep repeating our habits over and over, even compulsively.
So, attaining success is not about having or not having discipline, it is about habits. It is about focusing on getting an end result, until it becomes a habit. It is about keeping on doing what you said you would do long enough, keeping repeating it until you have incorporated it as a habit. Then, you are 100% disciplined to your needed habits rather than the same old habits.
It would be interesting to check out what Wikipedia says about the meaning of the term "discipline" and the very interesting concepts of "continent" and "virtuous" behavior. Read on!
"Discipline is the assertion of willpower over more base desires, and is usually understood to be synonymous with self- control. Self-discipline is to some extent a substitute for motivation, when one uses reason to determine the best course of action that opposes one's desires. Virtuous behavior is when one's motivations are aligned with one's reasoned aims: to do what one knows is best and to do it gladly. Continent behavior, on the other hand, it is when one does what one knows is best, but must do it by opposing one's motivations. Moving from continent to virtuous behavior requires training and some self-discipline."
Knowing that you have to study for this exam anyway, a smart move for you would be to embrace a "virtuous behavior". Study gladly, enjoying the journey!
My exam experience
Habit-building was one of my most exciting experiences during my preparation for the CPA exams. During the seven months it took me to prepare for the four exams, with an average of 40 days to prepare for each exam, I purposefully built new and healthier habits by changing some unconscious behaviors.
Three of those habits that I am so happy to maintain from that time make me more productive and happier.
One is getting up early in the morning and doing some writing. Just to test this Benjamin Francklin's quote, "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
The second is stop watching television (I never was more aware of the wasted time sitting in front of that square box represented and how it intoxicated my body and brain with negative propaganda). The third habit helped me become more aware of my energy level at every moment of the day. Studying requires body and mind working well together to provide focus, concentration, and willingness to learn. Having the habit of being aware of how I feel at every moment allowed me to raise my awareness of the experiences of each day. I like to call it, the habit of being present in what I am doing. If I am not feeling energetic, enthusiastic, happy, and 100% focused on what I am doing, then I start asking myself "what is going on". I check and make adjustments. Maybe it is something as simple as take a break, go for a walk, eat something or just close the eyes for few minutes to regain my energy.
Read the entire article here
| 
