CA Students – Ready for upgrade in 2019?

Does your heart aspire to unleash the fullest potential of yourself and become one of the finest “Chartered Accountant”?

I am sure it’s a thundering YES!!

We keep upgrading our cell phones every year to have better camera, better speed, better memory and better experience. Anyone who does not likes to upgrade? Any aliens here?

But tell me - do we consciously work upon to upgrade ourselves every year?

Well – your New Year does provides an excellent opportunity for deep reflection and upgrading yourself into a newer version of ourselves. Do you want to steal the opportunity?

Here we go.

How do you kick-start the process of upgradation?

For creating the upgradation, you need to take a break for 3-4 hours and invest time for self-introspection and meet yourself. I know it’s big thing now a days to carve out your true “ME” time given the era of PUBG and Netflix.

We have got so much busy in working, socializing, attending lectures, studying, whatsapp, gaming and consuming videos that hardly any time is left for the most important person in your life – i.e. YOURSELF.

So do you want to meet yourself to an annual upgrade?

Let’s do it. Let’s call this meeting as Annual Introspection Meeting (short form as “AIM”).
You got to find a peaceful place without any distraction for this AIM exercise. Download the AIM Template (given at end of article), open your laptop, grab a tea and start your AIM meet.

Most of the successful people do this exercise every year to discover goldmine of insights which enables them to take giant leaps in their life. Today it’s your time to take that leap.

There are four agenda’s (steps) in AIM - Annual Introspection Meeting  
1) Discovering your purpose
2) Identify areas of improvement by reflecting the last year performance
3) Hand-craft your next year
4) Create your “Declaration Manifesto”

The First Agenda of AIM – Discovering your purpose

The first and the biggest question that you need to ask yourself is “Why I want to become – “The Chartered Accountant?” Is it only for a good paycheck or its much beyond that?

Purpose is the driver of your energy. If you don’t have clear purpose, you will lack sufficient inner drive to destroy the obstacles that come in your path of earning two powerful letters “CA” before your name.

Now you will ask me, how can I find my purpose?

Well - It’s a simple 3 step process

Step 1 – Answer following 5 discovery Questions

1. What will CA provide me?
2. How will I feel when I become CA?
3. What will CA provide my family?
4. How will it make them feel?
5. What kind of transformation shall happen within me in the process of becoming the “Chartered Accountant”?

Step 2 – Craft your purpose
Once you have answered 5 discovery questions; you will have all the essential ingredients / content to craft the purpose. The purpose should be crafted in the LANGUAGE OF POWER that inspires you.

Example of Purpose Statement

I am here to become the Chartered Accountant because it shall complete me at the deepest level. It shall make me feel proud about myself and create a good standing in the society

I am here to become the Chartered Accountant because it fulfills the dream of my beloved mother & father. It shall enable me to give them financial security and be peaceful in life. CA strengthens my shoulder such that I can be a “Shravan” to my parents.  

I am here to become the Chartered Accountant because it gives me wings to fly high in the sky with no limits on my growth potential. I have 25-30 years ahead of me and I really want to fly high.

I am here to become the Chartered Accountant because I love the process of becoming Chartered. I know that the process is painful just like cocoon to butterfly process. But I love this pain because I know that it shall transform me into extra-ordinary professional with never-give up attitude, massive determination, incredible depth and great discipline in life which no money can buy.

Step 3 –  Hardwire in your subconscious

Once you have designed your purpose, you need to keep your purpose statement alive in front of you so that you can read it aloud and inspire yourself every day. Many of my IGNITE students have recorded the purpose in their cell phones and they listen to it every day. You can put up the purpose statement on the study table / wardrobe where you can read it daily without fail.

The Second Agenda of AIM – Identify areas of improvement
In my experience of mentoring CA students, I observed that most of the CA students keep on repeating the same mistakes in every attempt.

But you know what?

All successful people in the world have one thing in common - “they all made horrible and numerous mistakes like you”. But the difference is they learnt valuable lessons from it and transformed themselves.

It’s cool to goof up and make mistakes. Nothing is wrong about it. You are human, not machine right?

The problem is only when you fail to learn from it.

The second agenda of AIM is to identity the areas of the improvement by reflecting the last year performance by answering the following discovery questions

1. If you would have time machine to go back and change your life in last one year, then what decisions, thoughts, behavior & actions you would like to change?
2. What are the unproductive habits that been choking your study performance?
3. If you would be god, what advice you would to give yourself to avoid the mistakes that you discovered in points 1 & 2?

The Third Agenda of AIM – Handcraft your next year

Every successful company set clear goals for every year. They may achieve 70% or 100% of it but they do set goals.  

You are the director of your own life and unless you take charge of creating your goals, who else will?

Use following discovery questions to create the fresh goals and actions for the next year

1. What would I like to accomplish by the end of next year?
2. What kind of skills or mindset I need to develop to accomplish those goals?
3. What are the actions I need to take to acquire skills, mindset and accomplish those goals?

The Fourth Agenda of AIM – Create Declaration Manifesto (DM)

Once you execute first 3 agenda’s, you will have lot of insight’s/ learning’s to make your DM.
Declaration Manifesto is the summary of those learnings for your daily reminder. It is beautiful and powerful summary of promises, realizations and goals that you set for yourself.

Example of Declarations

I declare to believe in my own potential. 

I declare to focus my every breath and every cell of my body towards on only one goal to be “The Chartered Accountant”.

I declare to wake up at 5am and sit sharp at 6am for my studies, no matter what time I sleep.

(For more examples, refer the AIM template)

Once you create Declaration Manifesto, you got to have an unbreakable 3 mins daily ritual to read aloud your declarations. When you read aloud, people around you may think you are crazy but its always the crazy one’s who create the history and the rest just read history. Repetition of your declarations helps your goals sink into subconscious memory.

I would like share the finest quote on the “power of action” that I have across so far in my life.

 “It is important that you get clear for yourself that your only access to impacting life is action. The world does not care what you intend, how committed you are, how you feel or what you think, and certainly it has no interest in what you want and don’t want. Take a look at life as it is lived and see for yourself that the world only moves for you when you act.”

If you read this article but don’t take action to conduct your AIM (Annual Introspection Meet) and create your Purpose & Declaration Manifesto, you shall remain the same person what you were in 2018. No upgradation at all.

Therefore, I call upon you to schedule yourself a time for AIM for deep introspection and shape your own life from your own bare hands. Be Picasso of your own life.

By the way - do declare the day / time you are scheduling for your AIM in the comments section below. You will inspire others as well.  

Download the Annual Introspection Meeting (AIM) Template

The author of this article is CA Ashutosh Rathi and creator of IGNITE - a comprehensive mentoring program for CA Final & IPCC Students. He can also be reached at www.ashutoshrathi.com & ignite@ashutoshrathi.com