Lots of people ask me how do I feel being a CCIE? First off, I feel no different as I am the same engineer I was before I passed the CCIE exam, but the journey of becoming a CCIE has greatly changed my attitude and my day to day behavior on how I approach issues (both personally and professionally). The journey itself was much more important to me than passing the actual lab exam ... and as you go through your preparation keep one thing in mind "Championships aren’t won in the theater of the arena. They are won in the thousands of hours of training ... when everyone else is sleeping. That’s where it’s won. The heart of a champion is a light switch that’s always on – it doesn’t go on and off when someone’s watching – it’s constant" - (Greg Plitt RIP). The passing of the exam was just a general indication of my progression so do not get discouraged if you fail the first time. Just keep trying till you get to the finish line and grab that number.