CCIE Study and the value of taking breaks

I often run across many tweets and discussions around different technologies and the lack of enthusiasm to study said topic.  Many people who are studying for their CCIE spend months or even years preparing and sacrificing everything and anything including their sanity to pass the CCIE exam.

I've seen a lot of blog posts and recommendations on how and what to study but never on anything related on what happens when you study TOO much.  Yes there is such a thing and it only leads to one thing, burn out.  When studying anything including (and especially) technical topics you will reach a point where nothing is sticking and you may feel like you are even forgetting what you have learned so far.  You may get nervous and continue to cram it in there but don't.  A lab you ran perfectly one day is completely flawed the next and you spend double the time working on it and frustration to fix what you thought you knew easily.

If you burn out you will end up hating what you are doing and much like a diet you are likely to fail at your attempt to not only pass a very difficult exam but also truly learn from the experience to be a great CCIE.  I love finding crazy weird answers to problems and working on labbing up crazy solutions that are fun for me even though they will never be used in production.  One such example is what I learned from a bootcamp I had with Narbik a few years back that showed me how I could do some real crazy 007 stuff that because of how my mind works sticks with me forever.  I love things like that which keep me engaged and get me off the current topic and course for a moment and then jump back in.

I also know myself and because I have ADD I need to keep changing things around to stay focused and interested along with a distraction like music.  For that I choose to work with a topic until bored and then switch topics or switch topics in a way that might relate to the topic I want to stay on course on.  For example studying OSPF for weeks on end and then working with a bgp lab that interacts with OSPF through redistribution.

Some people aren't into the 007 stuff and for that I would recommend breaks in the study time and working on something completely different and unrelated like a tan.  Make sure that the interval of 'rest' is long enough or it won't really do anything for you.  Make sure you schedule your Written or Lab far enough away to account for periods of rest.

The bottom line is you need to evaluate yourself and what kind of learner you are and what your mind can take.  Cramming information down your throat will only cost you later in failed attempts lack of focus and eventually lack of interest in the whole process.  You also need to evaluate what is realistic and what is too much too soon.  I am the last person to burst anyones dreams but we are all different with different capabilities.  Some people are linear learners going from A-Z (CCNA - CCNP - CCIE) while others who have a foundation of experience and skill can skip and take the CCIE head on just be honest with yourself. You also may be an inductive thinker and are unable to learn via the usual mainstream methods.   No one is going to know any different when it comes to your studying methods.  All the public will know is your success or failure at the attempted goal.

Lastly, mind your troubleshooting methodologies because without any kind of method you're just a spanning-tree loop and that will only prevent you from succeeding in labbing up your solutions.