Ali is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

To say I fell off the bandwagon is a total understatement.

The last NINJA blog post I wrote was about two months ago. Shortly after writing that post, a new project came my team’s way at work and we became considerably more busy.

I left public accounting because I thought a job in industry would bring fewer hours, less travel, and more flexibility. As it turns out, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

Last week, after about six months in industry, I boomeranged back into public accounting with a different Big 4 firm in my city. I spent a lot of time analyzing the opportunity and making sure it would be the right fit, personally and professionally.

The only concern I had with accepting the position was that my firm requires passing the CPA exam before promotion to senior. So now, in addition to the pressure of just passing BEC, FAR, and REG before my AUD credit expires in Februrary, my career progression depends on this, too.

I started studying for BEC again about two weeks ago, and got more done in that amount of time than I did in the last three months combined. I’m about 50% of the way through the material now, and should be done by the end of the month.

I have Jeff and his ELL (Early-Lunch-Late) Plan to thank for that progress. It’s an amazingly easy way to fit four hours of study time in a day without feeling the drag of watching videos for hours on end.

I’m following a modified version – I study for about an hour and a half in the morning before I go into the office, about 30-45 minutes at lunch (the perfect amount of time to go through some MCQs), and two hours in the evening when I get home. I absolutely love ELL and it has worked wonders for me.

Happy studies!