After much deliberation on the issue whether you should do
articleship or take dummy, you have finally taken the bold decision to do
articleship. I congratulate all those
who are reading this article and have taken this bold decision and I can tell them
with my experience that they would never repent this decision. And I request all of you who are still
thinking about articleship to prepare their CV and apply for articleship. After all, there is no substitute for practical
work experience.
The whole experience of working as an article is truly
amazing. Auditing organizations,
practically preparing trial balances, discussing the details of items in profit
and loss accounts, balance sheets and making those last minute adjustments
before the accounts are finalized go a long way in your learning and exposure. In addition, the experiences of discussion with
client helps you not only build technical knowledge, but also develop great
negotiation skills. These go a long way
in shaping a great career ahead.
The initial days of articleship are always fun-filled, but soon
the feeling of examinations starts to take that fun away. Once the examination dates start approaching,
majority of us start wondering about managing both. And then, the thought whether we made the
right decision to go for articleship bothers us again. More importantly, because some of our friends
who did not opt for articleship would have been discussing a lot about the lessons
and topics they would have covered in the tuition classes, but perhaps missed
by you because you did not get time to attend them.
At this juncture, the CA student life starts to take a new turn
and therefore, it is very important that we do not get either confused or nervous. Nervousness and confusion is only for those
people who are not clear in their goals and objectives and NOT for people like
you, who are bold, determined and confident of their abilities.
I would like to state the “3 Step Success Formula” I learnt in my life. This success formula is very powerful and
highly practical and helps you get a complete perspective of how to manage
multi-tasks with ease and confidence. The
Formula is:
“With better awareness you make better choices and with better choices
you get better results.”
What it means is that you need to be aware of your end goal
and as you start to write, plan and visualize about your goals, you can make
better choices & take better decisions that consequently end up in you getting
better results.
I will now share some very practical tips with you on how to
manage your studies along with articleship.
After reading the article, I am sure you would be aware of some tips,
which if implemented in your life would surely help you achieve the best in
your life.
1.
Write
your Daily 5 - Prepare a Dairy/ Journal
The things that get scheduled are
the things that get completed.
Every day when you get up in the morning, spend 20 minutes writing a
journal. Pick up a diary/journal (http://www.flipkart.com/search?q=dairy&as=on&as-show=on&otracker=start&as-pos=1_q#jumpTo=215|40)
and every single day write 5 daily goals that needs to be achieved for that day
to be your best day ever. Write 5 things
covering your professional, academic, social, financial and spiritual needs:
(a)
Academics
– this can be related to finishing a particular chapter in any book or
attending coaching classes
(b)
Profession
– this can be related to your office work such as finishing a client’s balance
sheet or filing a tax return
(c)
Social
– this can be meeting your friends for discussions. Preferably, the discussions should revolve
around either studies or how to make your self a better professional. No gossips.
(d)
Financial
– this can be related to how to save money during articleship so that when
I qualify as a CA, I would be able to assist my family, or buy a new car, or
buy gifts for my parents.
(e)
Spiritual
– this can be something to do with self-realization or self-awareness. I truly believe a person who is strong
spiritually, has a bright chance to live life with content and peacefully.
Always remember that “Clarity
precedes Mastery” and by writing your goals daily, you are creating a clarity
for yourself and your purpose that will surely help you aim for the best. Unless you are clear on your goals, how can you
even think of achieving them?
2.
Don’t
sleep unless you finish your Daily 5
It is very important that you should finish your Daily 5 which you have
written in the morning and do not sleep unless you finish them. Once you develop the habit of sleeping only
after finishing your Daily 5 activities, you would start to get immense power
and confidence.
Just imagine that in 12 months you would have written and achieved
approx. 2000 goals (365*5). Imagine the
sense of pride and achievement you will experience after achieving nearly 2000
goals.
3.
Build
your days around your goals
The CA profession is one of the most difficult professions when it comes
to clearing examinations. I always keep
telling students that those who did not clear definitely lack in their
commitment to clear the examinations because there are always some students who
clear and qualify as chartered accountants.
The difference between them and those who did not clear is only one –
Those who cleared had a very high level of focus on their goal to qualify as a
CA.
Start to build your days around your goals. Create a bubble around you which allows you
to do only those things that are related to your goals and anything which is
not related to your goal, should not be allowed to enter your mental
bubble. Keep referring to your
dairy/journal regularly during the day and have a very strong focus to finish
your Daily 5. Stop wasting time and do
what is important to achieve your best.
4.
Don’t
waste time, because time that’s gone will not come back
This is something our parents have been telling us since our
childhood. But I would still request to
install this habit at any cost. Time
that’s wasted will not come back. Some
tips:
(a)
Watch very less/ No TV;
(b)
No gossips with friends and colleagues;
(c)
Get up early in the morning (read my articles on
the benefits of getting up early in the morning) and plan your day;
(d)
Create a bubble around you and don’t let any
thought which is not related to your goal enter your mind
(e)
Write your daily journal/ diary
(f)
Focus. Focus. Focus.
5.
Celebrate
your wins
This is something not many people do, but if done regularly, gives you
immense power and confidence. If you achieved any of your goals, , write it
down in your diary and clap for yourself.
These small things when done overtime will start to yield amazing
results in your life. You would be able
to achieve success not only in your profession but also do very well in studies.
6.
Be
Determined
Great chartered accountants are those, who have completed their
articleship and have still managed to clear examinations in the least possible attempts. Be determined to manage both of them so that
no one is able to deviate you from your goal.
Articleship is very important and so is clearing your
examinations. You cannot be good in one
but bad in the other. I would like to
end the article by a quote from Mahatma Gandhi:
“A man cannot do right in one
department of life whilst he is doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Authored
by Nimish Goel, a qualified
chartered accountant who’s passion is to coach young chartered accountants and
aspiring students achieve the best in their life. Nimish used to work with EY and PwC in India
and has also worked with KPMG in Europe.
He now runs his own consulting company and runs a blog www.nimishgoel.com.
He can be reached for any queries and issues on his blog.
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