[CGS Primary Exam Preparation] Continuing the JGSDF Command and Staff Course Exam with a "Return Mechanism" | Study Design to Finish the Long Haul
Your CGS exam studies suddenly stop for a few days.
That happens quite often.
You know you have to do it.
Yet, you cannot open the manual.
Even before sitting at your desk, your heart already feels heavy.
You are exhausted from work and just want to rest.
Before you know it, the day is over.
When you finally get into bed, you think this:
"Ah, I couldn't do it again today..."
If it were just that one day, perhaps you could still make up for it.
However, when it stretches to two or three days, restarting itself becomes a heavy burden.
"Ah, I couldn't do it again today..."
You should just open the manual. You should just write a little bit of your essay.
You know that in your head.
But for some reason, you cannot bring yourself to do it.
When you happen to hear about a peer's progress at such times, anxiety rushes in all at once.
"Am I falling behind?"
"Will I make it in time at this rate?"
"Is it impossible to pass this year?"
Those kinds of words well up from within.
–––– Is what people who stop midway through CGS exam preparation really need a stronger will?
I do not necessarily think so.
Of course, effort is necessary. If you do not do it, you will not move forward.
There is no doubt about that.
However, even if you keep blaming yourself when your studies stop, it almost never makes restarting any easier.
Actually, it often makes things heavier. That is how I feel.
1. When studies stop, people first blame themselves
The CGS exam is one where there is truly a lot to do.
Essays and English on defense common subjects, service regulations, military history, and branch operations.
The second-stage exam interviews.
And, balancing it all with daily duties.
It is not a matter of just being able to focus on one thing.
That is precisely why anxiety grows even if you stop for just a little while.
"Haven't I fallen behind in these few days?"
"Isn't it too late to go back now?"
"Can I really pass in this state?"
You end up thinking like that.
And the target of that frustration is usually yourself.
"I am soft." "My willpower is weak." "I am repeating the same thing again."
–––– Reflection is necessary.
But reflection and self-denial are different things.
Reflection exists to decide your next action.
Self-denial makes your next action heavier.
I believe this difference is actually quite significant.
2. Self-denial makes restarting harder
"I couldn't do it again."
These words come up often.
I suspect that the more seriously you face the exam, the more you repeat these words to yourself.
People who lack motivation wouldn't blame themselves this much in the first place.
It is precisely because you genuinely want to do it that you get angry at yourself for not being able to.
However, if you keep saying those words to yourself over and over, the next day's study will feel increasingly heavy.
Before even sitting at the desk, you already feel like you've lost.
Before even opening the manual, you feel as if you are being confronted with your own delays.
Before even starting on an essay, you hear a voice saying, "it won't last anyway".
When that happens, the energy required to restart keeps growing larger and larger.
Originally, you only needed to return for just five minutes.
Yet, while you keep blaming yourself, those five minutes transform into a weight that feels like making a major life decision.
I think this is the truly troublesome part.
3. CGS preparation is inherently prone to stopping
CGS preparation is not an exam taken in an environment where it is hard to stop.
On the contrary, it is easy to stop.
There are many subjects and the period is long.
You have to proceed while balancing it with your extremely busy daily duties, and naturally, there will be days when things don't go as planned.
Moreover, if there is a slight gap, you won't even know where you should return to.
Should I return to tactics?
Should I return to military history?
Or should I return to service regulations?
To begin with, where did I leave off last time?
While you are hesitating over such things, another day passes.
And then, you blame yourself again.
Once you enter this cycle, it is no longer just a matter of "not having enough study volume."
From here on, it is a problem of how to return.
4. What is truly scary is not stopping, but becoming unable to return
You couldn't study for one day. Two days passed.
That alone does not mean your exam preparation is over.
The truly scary part lies beyond that.
"It might be too late already."
"There's no point in going back now."
"Even if I make another plan, it will just fall apart anyway."
Thinking like that, the distance between you and the doctrine manuals gradually grows.
One day becomes three, and three days become a week.
Eventually, even opening the doctrine manuals starts to feel awkward.
It is not the day you stopped itself, but the period of being unable to return that grows longer.
I believe that is where the true difficulty of the CGS exam lies.
Therefore, what you should think about is not just "how to run the whole race without stopping even once."
Rather than that,
"how to return when you have stopped"
You need to include this in your plan from the very beginning.
5. What is needed is not stronger willpower, but a procedure for returning
A plan that can only be advanced on days when your willpower is strong is fragile.
Days when you are in good shape. Days when you have spare time. Days when you are motivated.
If you build your plan assuming only those days, it will collapse all at once the moment things get slightly disrupted.
In reality, there are days when you are weak.
Days when you are tired. Days when you cannot concentrate. Days when your schedule falls apart. Days when you feel anxious comparing yourself to your peers.
If you leave those days outside of your plan, the only option left when things fall apart is to blame yourself.
That is why what you need is not a plan to finish only on strong days.
It is a procedure to return even on weak days.
For example—read the doctrine manuals for just five minutes. Write only the summary for your essay. Decide on just one key point for the day. Decide in advance on the minimum restart for tomorrow.
Even just that is enough to keep your connection to your studies from breaking.
Days of significant progress are, of course, necessary.
But at the same time, days where you don't break the chain at all are also necessary.
6. Minimal Resumption is Not Self-Indulgence
When they hear "just do five minutes," some people might feel it's not enough.
Is such a small thing really okay for a CGS exam?
Shouldn't I be doing more?
I understand that feeling well.
Of course, I don't mean to say that five minutes is sufficient.
On days when you can make serious progress, you need to make serious progress.
That is true.
However, the problem is the days when things fall apart.
Days when you are exhausted.
Days when you have no energy left to sit at your desk.
Days when a few days have passed and the act of restarting feels heavy.
On days like that, if you try to make up for everything at once, you will end up unable to return at all.
That is why minimal resumption is necessary.
Read the doctrine for just five minutes.
Try memorizing just one page of material.
Write down your next move for tomorrow.
This is not self-indulgence.
It is a tactic to ensure you do not break your connection to the exam.
7. CGS Exam Preparation is Not Something You Advance Only on Strong Days
To run the full course of CGS exam preparation, looking only at your strong days will inevitably fall short.
On days when you are in good shape, make solid progress. Complete your standard study routine.
If you have extra time, dig a little deeper.
On busy days, keep the connection with the minimum.
On days when things fall apart, just decide on the minimum resumption for the next day.
In that way, keep a range of flexibility.
This does not mean indulging yourself.
On the contrary, it is a way of thinking to keep going realistically.
If you build a plan on the premise of doing everything perfectly every day, once it falls apart, everything collapses.
However, if you incorporate the idea that "there will be days when things fall apart" from the beginning, you won't lose sight of where to return.
CGS exam preparation is not always a series of days that go according to a perfect plan.
That is precisely why you need to include how to return after things get disrupted in your plan.
8. What to decide today is not a grand resolution, but the next move
If your studies have stalled a bit right now.
You don't need to make up for everything today.
There is no need to re-commit to a grand resolution, either.
There is no need to perfectly recreate a new plan, either.
All you need to decide first is the smallest restart for tomorrow.
Open one page of materials tomorrow morning.
Read the manual for just five minutes when you get home.
Write down just one thing you accomplished before going to bed.
Try thinking only about the structure of your essay.
I think that is enough.
You might feel it is "too small."
But when you are stalled, what you need is not a magnificent plan.
It is a trigger to restart.
First, return.
Starting from there is fine.
9. Become someone who can return, not someone who never stops
What is important for the CGS exam is not to become someone who never stops once.
Of course, if you can keep going without stopping, there is nothing better than that.
However, in reality, there are days when you stop.
There are days when things don't go as planned.
There are also days when you want to blame yourself.
Just because you have days like that doesn't mean your exam journey is over.
If you can return the next day, your exam journey is still properly continuing.
What is important is not to keep blaming yourself for stopping–––– but to have a place to return to next.
Having a stronger will is not the only answer.
Create a structure that allows you to return even if you stop.
I believe that becomes a very important foundation for moving forward through the long exam period.
Thank you for reading until the end.
Mr.K
Related Articles:
CGS Exam Success is Determined by 'Friction' Rather Than 'Will'
7 'Signs of Mental Breakdown' That No One Mentions About the CGS Exam
The More You Want to Pass, the Less You Should Cancel 'Fun Plans'
CGS Exam Preparation: Serious People Who Can't Rest Are the First to Break Down
For Those Who Want to Learn More About the CGS Exam:
In this article, I shared some of the ways of thinking regarding the CGS exam.
However, the CGS exam is a test where it is difficult to grasp the full picture from just one article.
There are many things to consider, such as preparation for the primary and secondary exams, and the ability to continue studying until the very end.
Therefore, if you would like to further organize your thoughts on taking the CGS exam, please also refer to the following articles and materials.
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◆ For those seriously aiming to pass the CGS
For those who do not want to take the long way around by doing things their own way, or who want to systematically organize the overall picture of the CGS primary and secondary exams, I have prepared complete study materials for the CGS exam.
In the free articles, I focus on conveying ways of thinking and organizing concerns regarding taking the CGS exam.
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◆ For those who want to continue their CGS exam preparation until the end
The CGS exam tests not only your knowledge but also your ability to keep going until the end.
"I know what to do, but I can't keep it up"
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For those people, I have also prepared a mindset reform program to help you continue your CGS exam preparation until the end.
This is not a material for increasing knowledge. It is a program for organizing your persistence, thinking, and action design.
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