The CPLP credential is the Rolls-Royce of professional accreditations in the field of learning and development.

As such, it is intentionally designed to be challenging by testing the breadth and depth of your skill—not only based on your ability to recall knowledge, but also by putting your professional experience under the microscope and making you show that you can take intangible, high-level concepts and bring them down to earth in applied, real-life scenarios.

If you are ready to embark on this adventure or you're right in the middle of it, here are five actions to avoid that are a surefire way to scuttle your CPLP journey:

1. Fly Solo

Can you imagine Bert without Ernie? Or peanut butter without the jelly?

Like most things in life, the CPLP journey is enhanced by partnering up with others who can relate to your challenges and provide the needed support during difficult times.

Make sure you reach out to your network of peers, via social media, email, snail mail, or printed posters if necessary. Create study groups and test each other constantly to make sure you have truly mastered the content, not just memorized the details.

2. Trust Your Memory

Memory is an imperfect record of everything.

Memorizing the entire CPLP Learning System, as impressive as that would be, will not be enough to achieve CPLP certification. You will need to master the concepts in applied scenarios and overcome the "illusion of mastery."

Test not only your ability to recall concepts and definitions, but also the practical application of the concepts to case studies and real-life examples.

3. Procrastinate

It's OK, we all have been there . . . but I believe you can do better!

I can't stress this enough: You need to plan your study sessions. Make sure you allocate time every week from the moment you schedule your tests to the night before testing to study and review the topics.

The ATD Learning System provides an amazing set of organizing tools that will help you plan your study sprints by topic and by date. Don’t forget to take the pre-tests to know your weak spots and plan how to close the gaps.

4. Panic

Avoid panicking by preparing accordingly. Panic will set in if you fly solo, procrastinate, and rely on rote memorization.

If you know you are a bad test-taker, you will need to mentally and physically prepare; the CPLP accreditation requires you to pass two different proctored tests. Make sure you have the necessary tools to deal with pressure, and put yourself mentally and physically in a good place to handle the natural stress of the situation.

5. Believe You Can Wing It

To put it simply: You can't.

The CPLP accreditation is given to L&D professionals who demonstrate a solid grasp on the principles that drive the profession forward.

Boosting your career, validating your experience, and connecting with like-minded peers are but some of the benefits of the CPLP accreditation.

It is difficult, and it will require a measure of discipline and effort to achieve what only a few have achieved: to be recognized by the most prestigious organization governing our craft as a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance.

And it's worth every second!

Learn more about becoming a CPLP!