Week 3 of My CISSP Journey: From Motivation to Discipline
Three weeks into my CISSP prep, the honeymoon phase is over — and the real grind begins. In this post, I reflect on what’s working, what’s hard, and the system that keeps me on track.
It’s been just over three weeks since I began preparing for the CISSP exam.
The initial excitement? Slowly fading.
The reality of the challenge ahead? Starting to hit.
But I expected this. I know that long-term goals aren’t powered by bursts of motivation. They’re built on discipline and consistency.
Where I’m At
So far, I’ve published three articles documenting key concepts I’ve studied along the way:
And one Cybersecurity quiz you can try for free!
Any feedback is highly appreciated!
This time, I want to do something different.
Rather than introducing another concept, I’d like to take a step back and reflect on how the preparation is going.
The Honest Truth
I’m not going to lie — the “honeymoon phase” is over.
It’s summer, and more often than not, I’d rather be outside enjoying the sun than buried in a 1,200-page book.
But discipline beats motivation.
That’s why I’ve set a fixed schedule, and when it’s time to study, it’s time to study. No excuses, no negotiations.
Since I’m juggling my full-time job and other responsibilities, I have to make every study session as efficient as possible. That means I had to adopt a few techniques that really help.
Overall, I believe I have found my rhythm; all I need to do now is keep it up!
My Current Goals & Strategy
As you might recognize, I am a very result-oriented person who needs to define goals and then create a strategy to achieve them.
Let me show you my thought process in one simple picture.
The main goal is to pass the CISSP exam.
To achieve this goal, I have to study, which mainly means reading a book and doing practice questions.
To fully understand the concepts and be able to review them after the exam, I have to create my own study materials, including mind maps and notes.
And the last piece of the puzzle is starting a cybersecurity newsletter to document the journey. If you’re interested in why I started this newsletter, you can find out in one of my previous posts
Now that I know my goals, here is how I keep my study sessions efficient.
I read a chapter and then always write down the most important concepts/terms in the chapter
I create mindmaps and diagrams in mindmap.so for a better understanding of the relationships between terms
I keep everything in my Notion so it’s available to me all the time, and I can review it while I am sitting on a bus traveling to work
I have a glossary for each chapter to learn proper definitions
I have three 90-minute study sessions a week where I read new chapters of the CISSP book, create notes, and create diagrams
I use the “empty” time, such as travelling to work for reviewing my notes and going through the practice questions
I share insights weekly through this newsletter
I write the posts by myself because I am sick of AI-generated content.
Study tips
Set a recurring study schedule. Make it non-negotiable.
Use diagrams and analogies for better understanding
Don’t rely on motivation. Rely on your system.
Build a glossary of key terms.
Practice questions and review notes during short breaks and commutes
Tools That Work For Me
Mindmap.so — to visualize complex relationships between terms.
Notion — my personal knowledge base, available anytime
Final thoughts
This journey is just getting started, but I can tell it’s going well so far.
I am already familiar with most of the topics, so it’s going quickly, and I rarely get stuck.
However, the practice questions for CISSP are brutal! You really need to focus 100%, because one small detail completely changes the answer.
But that‘s how it‘s supposed to be. It’s one of the hardest certifications there is, so it can’t be easy!
If you're on a similar path — CISSP or otherwise — I'd love to hear how you're staying on track.
What study habits work for you? What tools are helping the most?
👉 Leave a comment or reply to this post. Let’s share tips and keep each other accountable.
And if you’re just here to follow along, thank you.
There’s a lot more to come.
— Erich