Studying for your Salesforce Certification requires learning a huge amount of information, which requires a huge amount of time. But not everyone has the opportunity to box off 2 hour, 3 hour, or even entire days for studying.
When I was studying for the Salesforce Administrator Certification I was the same, there was no way that I could block out significant portions of my time. I had a full-time job, a wife, 2 kids, sports, friends and a host of other commitments that prevented me from doing so, and when I realised this I almost felt defeated.
Then I remembered reading the book “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy and I remember the impact that small, consistent changes can have on your life, and I wanted to apply that to my studies. So what I did was maximise the time that I had available to make the most out of what I could. I spent 30 minutes of my lunch hour studying, I’d grab 30 minutes in the morning before the kids got up, 30 minutes at night when they went to bed. And even 10 and 15 minutes here and there when I was waiting for them at clubs.
All this time added up, and because I was studying in short sharp sessions, my retention and recall were pretty good. It did mean that I had to be smarter with the time I had, I had to target specifically what I wanted to learn, and sometimes that was difficult when concepts were squashed together or the lesson/documentation was lengthy.
That's one of the reasons that I created Get Force Certified. To save you the time I had to waste in collecting all the information and distilling it down to clear, concise, no-nonsense sessions that allowed me to maximise my time. You’ll find throughout all of Get Force Certified Courses, the lessons are short, sharp, clear, concise, and teach you what you need to know fast. I’ve even included cheatsheets with everything you need to know about each concept which is ideal for revision.
As I studied in these sessions I realised that I was accumulating knowledge and understanding quite rapidly. I think that was due to a couple of reasons;
- That time all added up - 30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes at lunch, 2 x 15 minutes when waiting for the kids, and a final 30 minutes in the evening totalled to 2 hours a day. That's pretty significant.
- My brain had time to rest. Because my study sessions were spread out I think that gave my brain time to embed that knowledge and to comprehend it. I know when I have spent long 2 hour study sessions at the weekend my brain feels frazzled, almost like there is a limit to how much information I can consume at one time.
- My day-to-day life was largely unaffected. It might sound a bit strange but by grabbing these short sessions I could ensure that I was still performing in my day job, still spending time with my wife and kids, and still doing the things I enjoyed doing. This motivated me to keep pushing on.
One aspect that I do want to highlight is consistency. I think a large part of my study success (I went from zero Salesforce knowledge to Certified Salesforce Administrator in 51 days) came from the fact that I was consistent. I ensured that I studied for at least 60 minutes every day, no matter what. I know that sounds a little extreme “no matter what”, but I did.
In the past I have used the excuse “I just don’t have the time” and “I’m too busy” but that was code for “I’m not committed” and “I don’t want to”. Its amazing, no matter how busy I was with work or other commitments, I always found time to watch Netflix in the evening, or watch funny cat and dog videos on my phone. All I did was change that entertainment for another - Trailhead.
Another observation that I had was that all of these short lessons compounded. Because I was committed to spending 60 minutes a day each of those sessions become more effective and efficient as I was getting more used to them. This meant that all these lessons compounded together and the speed at which I was able to learn and retain the information seemed to accelerate, it was almost as if I was tuning my brain to learn better.
Studying for your Salesforce Certification can be overwhelming, but the Compound Effect can help. Small, consistent actions can lead to significant results over time.
By studying for shorter periods consistently, you can make progress in your studies. Get Force Certified courses are designed to help you maximise your study time with clear, concise, and no-nonsense lessons, cheatsheets, and revision materials.
When using the compound effect don’t forget the 5 tips - just do it, plan ahead, think big, and reward yourself.
Enrol in a Get Force Certified course to make the most of your study time and achieve your certification goals.
