Motivation isn’t enough to pass your FE exam

There will be a time in your FE prep when you’ll feel like you’re not motivated, you’re not making progress, and you’re not learning as fast as you used to before.

Immediately, your reaction might involve doing MORE. Gathering more resources, watching more videos, looking for more motivation, and doing more and more and more…

This is a normal way most of us would react. I’m talking about myself here too. Especially since we are so conditioned to do something new when we feel like we are not making progress. We are always seeking that next rush of dopamine. And when it comes to the FE exam, we mistakenly believe doing more will help get us out of this stagnation state.

What is this stagnation state? When does it occur? Why does it occur?

I want you to start by examining the graph shown below. The graph shows a common pattern that occurs when dealing with anything growth related. We can apply it to just about anything growth related. But since we are learning for the FE exam, let’s apply this growth pattern when it comes to learning and FE exam motivation.

Notice how at the beginning we have exponential learning, which in turn yields exponential growth in motivation. As the time spend studying increases we hit an inflection point when learning begins to slow, which also results in a decline in motivation. After that, we are moving into the stage where we are operating at maximum capacity! This is the so-called steady state. This is the stationary phase when we feel like we are not progressing, we are not as motivated as we used to be, and we are experiencing a ton of ups and downs.

Let’s zoom in on this steady state (stationary state)…

Most of us are falsely led to believe staying in this stationary phase is not a good thing. I’m here to tell you, it is a good thing!

This stationary stage becomes your New Normal. Looking for external motivation in stage won’t help much. Doing more and more won’t help much either. This is the stage where your internal motivation has to take control. This when you’ll adapt to accept you will have ups and downs. This is when you move past a quantity mindset into a quality mindset where you’re using one quality resource at a time without overwhelming yourself with a bunch of material.

What you do in this stationary phase is the determining factor when it comes to maintaining motivation, consistency, and persistence throughout your FE preparation journey. Accept those ups and downs, the good days and the bad days. It’s ok to fail, to make mistakes, and to not be 100% productive all the time. You’re still studying at a capacity that’s perfectly suited for your current life conditions. And that’s just enough to stay on track as you steadily take the small steps forward in the right direction.

Strive for this stationary phase. It will take you sometime to get used to. Do not strive for more and more. Do not strive for more resources, a lot more studying, more of this, and more of that. This is the phase when your quality and purposeful practice matters the most.

What will you do today to get into this steady state? How will you maintain your capacity when you’re well into this state? What will you tell yourself when things get hard and when you feel like you’re not making progress?