How I forced myself out of my demotivated spell to achieve consistency
I did a 21-day challenge for the final attempt of my CA final exams and you should too.
Welcome to episode 3 of ‘Random Ramblings’, where I talk about a random event in my life, which I hope will be motivating for you.
So instead of making another elaborate study timetable, I decided to do something slightly different; I created a 21-day study challenge for myself. And because I know myself well enough to know that simply writing down a list of things to do isn’t always enough, I decided to gamify it.
I gave myself points for completing the things I wanted to be consistent with every day and set a target score that I wanted to achieve.
I’ve also made the 21-day challenge PDF that I used, so if you’d like to try it yourself, you can download it below. You can print it out and use it to track your progress for the next 21 days.
Why I decided to do a 21-day challenge
When exams are only a few weeks away, I think one of the biggest problems is not necessarily knowing what to study. You already know you have to study. The problem is getting yourself to consistently do all the things you know you should be doing.
For me, there were several things I wanted to be more consistent with:
- Getting up early
- Writing tests
- Practising IBS case studies
- Revising what I studied during the day
- Maintaining a proper dinner and sleep schedule
- Studying for a certain number of hours every day
Instead of trying to remember all of these things every day, I put them into one simple challenge. And this is what my 21 days looked like.
My 21-Day Study Challenge
I chose 8 things that I wanted to be consistent about every day. My daily targets were:
| Task | Daily Target |
|---|---|
| Wake up | 5:30 AM |
| Indirect Tax Test | 60 minutes |
| Direct Tax Test | 60 minutes |
| IBS Case Study | 1 case study |
| Dinner | 7:00 PM |
| End-of-the-Day Revision | 10:00 PM |
| Sleep | 10:30 PM |
| Study | 10 hours |
I didn’t want this to become a challenge where I had to follow every single minute of my timetable perfectly. So, apart from waking up and sleeping, I decided not to be too rigid about the timings. I gave myself around 30 minutes of grace time for each task.
The timings were mainly there to give me an outline of what my day was supposed to look like. Because realistically, if you’re studying for an entire day, things aren’t always going to happen exactly at 7:00 PM or 10:00 PM.
How I gamified the challenge
This was my favourite part of the challenge. Instead of simply ticking off the tasks, I assigned points to each one. The 6 tasks other than my DT and IDT tests carried 1 point each. The two tests carried 2 points each because I wanted to give them more importance.
So the maximum score I could get in a day was: 10 points. And my goal was to score at least 8/10 every day.
That meant I didn’t have to have a perfect day to consider it a successful one. I just needed to get most of the important things done. And I actually liked this much more than having an all-or-nothing approach. If I missed one task, the entire day wasn’t automatically a failure. I could still try to make up for it by completing the other tasks.
The challenge got harder every week
I also didn’t want the 21 days to remain exactly the same from Day 1 to Day 21. So, at the end of each week, I planned to increase the intensity slightly. For example, my wake-up time would be pushed one hour earlier than usual.
The idea was to gradually make the challenge more demanding instead of starting with an extremely difficult routine on Day 1.
One thing I did every morning
There was also something I did every morning that wasn’t technically part of the scoring system. I had written down some notes and stuck them on my wall so that I could read them every morning and memorise them. It was a very small thing, but I found it useful because I didn’t have to separately schedule a study session for it. It just became part of my morning routine.
Day 1 of the 21 Day Challenge
I did vlog the first day of the challenge, so you can watch it here, if you don’t want to read the rest of the blog!
And now for the actual Day 1. Let’s just say… it wasn’t exactly a perfect start. I wanted to wake up at 5:30 AM. Instead, I woke up at 8:00 AM. So clearly, the challenge wasn’t off to the best start. 😂But I decided not to let that derail the entire day.
I got ready and started my first study session at around 9:00 AM.
9:00 AM – IDT Test
I started the day with my Indirect Tax test. Both the DT and IDT tests I had planned were 60-minute tests. I specifically wanted to include these tests because, apart from testing what I knew, I also wanted to get some writing practice and improve my speed. After finishing the IDT test, I spent some time correcting my paper.
11:15 AM – Correcting my test
I went through the paper and checked my answers. This is something I think is quite important when you’re giving tests at home. It’s tempting to finish the test, look at the marks and move on. But actually going through your mistakes tells you what you need to revise next.
12:00 PM – DT Revision
My next test was DT. But before taking the test, I spent some time revising one of my weaker DT chapters: NR Taxation. I watched the lecture for the chapter and prepared for the test.
1:10 PM – Lunch
I took a not-so-quick break for lunch to replenish my energy before getting back to studying.
2:30 PM – DT Test
I then attempted my Direct Tax test. After the test, I also did some MCQ practice. I used this MCQ sheet as a fun way to practice.
5:15 PM – DT Revision
I continued with my DT revision and question bank practice.
6:45 PM – A short break
I went to the park for a walk and used some of the exercise machines they keep there. I think breaks like this become even more important when you’re trying to study for long hours. The aim of the challenge wasn’t to sit at my desk for every waking hour. It was to make sure that I was actually using my day well.
7:30 PM – Dinner
I had dinner at around 7:30 PM. This was slightly later than my target of 7 PM, but still within the grace period I had allowed myself (and earlier than my usual 10 PM dinner).
8:00 PM – Back to DT
I continued my DT revision and spent the rest of the night practising questions.
10:30 PM – End-of-day revision
At 10:30 PM, I did my EOD revision. This was one of the things I specifically wanted to make a habit because I didn’t want everything I studied during the day to simply disappear by the next morning.
10:50 PM – Time to sleep
I finally went to sleep at 10:50 PM. Since my target was 10:30 PM, I decided not to count this as completed.
Final score: 7/10
My target was 8/10 or above. So technically, I didn’t reach my goal on Day 1. But I also didn’t want to look at it as a completely failed day. I had completed both tests, studied for 10 hours, revised at the end of the day and had an early dinner. The two things that I needed to prioritise the next day were waking up on time and completing my IBS case study.
And that was exactly the point of the challenge. Rather than waiting for a perfect day, I could simply look at my score, figure out what went wrong and try to do better the next day.
Want to try the 21-day challenge yourself?
I’ve created the 21-day study challenge document based on this system.You can use it to:
- Set your own daily study targets
- Assign points to your habits/tasks
- Track your score every day
- Set a minimum score for yourself
- Gradually increase the difficulty
- Keep yourself accountable for 21 days
You don’t have to use exactly the same targets that I used. In fact, I would recommend changing them according to your own exam schedule and routine. The point isn’t to copy someone else’s perfect timetable. It’s to create a challenge that makes you want to show up every day.
Final Thoughts
I started this challenge because I was feeling unmotivated and my exams were only three weeks away. And honestly, I didn’t expect a challenge to magically make me motivated. What I wanted was something much simpler: A reason to show up every day.
Giving myself points made studying feel a little more like a game, and having a daily score also gave me something concrete to look at at the end of the day.
I didn’t get 10/10 on Day 1. I didn’t even get my target of 8/10. But I still studied for 10 hours and completed both my tests. So instead of thinking, “I failed my challenge,” I could think: “Okay. I got 7 today. Let’s try for 8 tomorrow.”
And sometimes, that’s enough to keep going. If you try this 21-day challenge yourself, I’d love to know how it goes!
Happy studying! ❤️