The CAPM Chronicles

Thursday I received my CAPM license number meaning that I was officially certified! I accepted the reality that my personal and professional lives would change forever because that was a difference between a professional and a certified professional. I possessed an MBA but adding CAPM project management certification provided another dimension. That motivated me to email all of my Project Management Professional application recommenders this afternoon (might as well since Hurricane Irene's aftermath kept me inside). Once I was able to sit for the PMP exam, I will pass it propelling me into the stratosphere. Armed with this coveted certification combined with five years' experience and an MBA, guaranteed numerous options. However, I wouldn't depend solely on these three attributes. Starting next week I will start expanding my professional networking. Call it career management because if my reality will change, I must change whom I associate it.

Tuesday I will attend the 85 Broads Washington, DC chapter's summer soiree, to meet all of its members. These women are corporate CEOs, businesswomen, venture capitalists and community servants. I identify with them because I am just as successful. Though there are several membership levels, I have decided to join the $250 Visionary because I want to promote books and my blogs. Moreover, my nine years' MBA experience tells me that I should start over again especially since I have the credential to successfully function at this level. By the time I join in mid-September, I will have taken the PMP exam (I will not receive my score until mid-October because the Project Management Institute [PMI] has published a new exam and hasn't run diagnostic testing on passing or failing yet). I will arrive there armed with my graduate degree and project management certification.

I've Passed my Certified Associate Project Manager Exam!

I passed my Certified Associate Project Manager exam Tuesday, August 23rd during the 5.9 earthquake. My PMP exam prep instructor remarked that I earned it! I surely did! Now I am awaiting PMI to mail me my license and identification number. Hopefully the organization will release my results allowing me to submit my PMP application. I really want to have everything sent because it lets me focus on preparing for it!

Remembering to Breathe

With everything that’s happening
I need to catch my breath
Inhale
Exhale
Relax enough to smell
The roses
Raindance amongst the waterhoses
I’m hunkered down
This project management’s study
Weighs on me like a ton
Its heaviness nearly won
Making me say uncle
Yet I remember
To Breathe
Inhale
Exhale
Rest and relax
Swell
Never
Dwell
On failures, fear, shortcomings and odd circumstances
These represent life events
Sometimes will make me seethe
Yet all their negativity
Dissipate immediately
When I remember to breathe

Prime Rib Restaurant Week Lunch

The Prime Rib’s lunch special is savory and not to be missed. The restaurant’s imperial crab entrée with tartar sauce and lemon is great especially for $20. Add the house salad and crème brulee and this award-winning eatery is offering a deep-discounted bargain! Furthermore, its impeccable waitstaff service will have me returning afterward. This steakhouse is a winner!

Overcoming my Fear of Failing the CAPM Exam

Ever since mid-July, I have been operating in fear mode. PMI will change the PMP test starting September 1st. Today is August 4th and in five days I’ve decided to sit for my CAPM exam. Yesterday I scored 117/162 on a practice exam falling four points shy of the required 121 to pass. The Oliver Lehmann CAPM practice test has a higher passage rate (74.6%) than the CAPM exam (61%). This higher rate motivates me to retain more knowledge. Today I’ve returned to the PMBOK writing down every project management plan subsidiary plan’s definition, input and output to conquer my fear. Last night I saw a pattern. If I mastered the management plans related to the core project management plan, I would know whether or not the question discusses an input or output. Knowing that would had given me more than four correct answers to surpassing the 121 threshold. My original fear bore out of never overcoming the GRE 700 quantitative threshold because something quirky always happened. Till this day 660 was the highest that I ever scored. It was like an albatross around my neck weighing me down. Subconsciously, the GRE feeling permeated my brain when it came to project management. However, I released that fear of failure by writing down what I didn’t know. I do feel that not only will I pass the CAPM next Tuesday, but PMI will approve my application and I will pass the PMI before August 31st.