Episode 19: Plan Your 2026 CPA Exam Success

Episode Summary

In this episode, Dawn walks you through how to plan your 2026 CPA Exam Success by learning directly from your 2025 experience.

Instead of starting over with another “perfect” plan, this episode shows you how to keep what helped, change what didn’t, and build a study plan that actually fits real life. You’ll learn how to break the start–stop cycle by planning with clarity instead of pressure.

This lesson is especially for candidates who have high goals but keep getting pulled off track by work, family, fatigue, or unexpected disruptions.

By the end of the episode, you’ll have a clear process for turning what happened in 2025 into a realistic, sustainable plan for 2026.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why planning for the result without planning for real life leads to repeated setbacks

• How to review your 2025 CPA Exam experience without judgment

• What to keep and what to release from last year

• How to define success for 2026 in a way that feels realistic and motivating

• How to build a study plan that works during normal weeks and fluctuating weeks

• How to create a continuation strategy so life interruptions don’t cause you to stop

• Why smaller, sustainable plans lead to more consistent follow-through

The 5-Step Planning Process Covered

1. Review what actually happened in 2025
2. Identify what helped and what got in the way
3. Set a clear and realistic 2026 goal
4. Build a study plan that matches real life
5. Create a strategy for life’s fluctuations and distractions

Action Step

Set aside one hour this week to work through the five steps covered in this episode. You can do them all at once or break them into smaller sessions. The goal is not speed — the goal is clarity.

Click HERE to download the Workbook.

Click HERE to download the Lesson Slides

Recommended Episodes

For additional support with planning and follow-through, listen to:

• Episode 2 of the CPA Exam Success Podcast: Planning

• Episode 12 of the CPA Exam Success Podcast: Your CPA Exam Passing System – A Real Plan for Real Life

These episodes will help reinforce how to build a plan that fits your life and how to stay engaged when distractions show up.

Click HERE to join my CPA Exam Confident! 30 in 30 Challenge.

Ready to Stop Struggling and Start Passing?

Join my CPA Exam Success Mastery Coaching Program and get the strategy, mindset, and support you need to pass your first CPA Exam section—and then the rest—with confidence and ease.

👉 Click HERE to take your first step toward CPA Exam success! (This 🔗 takes you to all currently available free and paid resources.)

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