Staying Focused

Optimists focus their energy on making their goals happen, rather than bracing for the worse.- Denis Waitley

One of the struggles I face when studying for the CPA exam is staying FOCUSED on studying.  The odd thing is, staying focused wasn’t really an issue for me previously.  I was the queen of being able to stay up all night before an exam and cram right up to the time I had to actual go and take the exam.  I quickly found out that my studying strategy during high school & college was not going to cut it for the CPA exam.  There is no way that you can learn all the material for the exam in one night.  So I had to find a better way to study and stay focused on it over an extended period of time.

 Here are a few focusing tips that I find work for me that might work for you too:

• When attending a live lecture, sit in front.  When you’re in the front of the class you are more likely to be engaged on the instructor or presenter and less likely to be zoning out or on your phone.
• Put your phone on “Do Not Disturb” and put it out of sight.  Did you really need to check that text message or Facebook message right then, or could it have waited two hours? If someone has something urgent to tell you they most likely will call you and leave a voicemail or call you twice to be sure they got in touch with you.  It helps remove those small distractions.
• Drink plenty of water- by drinking water you increase the amount of oxygen in your body, which leads to more oxygen to the brain, which ultimately increases our alertness & clarity. 
• Set Specific Goals- by setting specific daily or hourly goals, it helps bring the huge task of studying ALL that material to a more achievable task.  If you set a goal to finish all multiple choice questions for one chapter before you leave the library, the more likely you are to accomplish it.  Compare that to thinking “I’m going to stay at the library for four hours” and the first two hours you spent on Facebook and emails.  If you leave the library after only two real hours of studying, you’ll feel like you got nothing accomplished.
• Peppermint oil- This last one may surprise you but peppermint essential oil has a bunch of benefits including relieving headaches and improved mental focus.  By diffusing the oil for an hour while you study or even putting a drop under your nose can help improve your concentration.