Do you REALLY want it? Why? CCENT, CCNA, A+, Security+
About this video
In this motivational talk, Chuck argues that struggling to study for a CCNA, CCENT, MCSA or similar certification usually is not a focus problem but a motivation problem: ‘you don’t want it bad enough’ and your ‘why’ is not big enough. The idea was prompted by listening to Dave Ramsey tell a couple struggling with debt the same thing. Chuck quotes Jim Rohn — ‘when the why gets stronger, the how gets easier’ — and uses an extreme hypothetical: if failing to get your CCNA in six months meant you would die, you would get it. He shares his own why: when he started in IT he was married, his wife was expecting their first baby, they were living on food stamps and barely paycheck to paycheck after he had been selling plumbing supplies. He admits his CCNP took him three to four years because he procrastinated. He tells viewers to write their whys down, put them where they can see them daily, and post them in the comments, and he pushes back on doubters by saying certifications flipped his own life and that viewers who succeeded should share their stories to encourage beginners.
Key takeaways
- Chuck’s central claim: certification study fails when your ‘why’ is not big enough, not mainly for lack of study hacks
- He borrows the framing from Dave Ramsey on debt and Jim Rohn’s line that a stronger why makes the how easier
- Write your whys down, display them where you will see them daily, and revisit them when motivation drops
- His personal why was escaping poverty — food stamps and paycheck-to-paycheck living with a baby on the way — to give his family a better life
- He counters doubts about certification value with his own career change from selling plumbing supplies into IT
Episode details: published May 10, 2019 · 9:15 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are NetworkChuck’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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