John is a NINJA CPA blogger.

Hello NINJAs,

As I have been studying BEC through reading the book, notes and listening to the audio tapes I have found my strengths and weakness with this exam.

It is no wonder that starting with cost accounting has challenged me. On the positive side, IT and corporate governance has been easier for me so far.

I know this is breaking one of the NINJA rules, but it has helped me with burnout by working some NINJA MCQs while I’m still reading the book and taking notes.

It seems the longer I kept reading and taking notes and not doing the MCQs I felt like I’m treading water. Just seeing my trending score go up as I answer more correct answers a few times a week has been an unexpected motivator.

Staying positive is easy now because I’m in the honeymoon stage of the CPA exam process–everything is new and exciting. I know this not a sprint but a marathon, so I know there will be days I will have to dig down deep to keep going.

In the past when the hard times came, I Googled “Motivational sayings from famous people” like Einstein's who wrote “The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

Or when Steve Jobs wrote “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

These are just a few of my favorites that have kept me going.

To all the CPA NINJAs out there “Stay thirsty my friends” The most interesting man in the world quote.