Week 5 - Distractions

 

It would seem that there are two kinds of distractions that I find it difficult to avoid: the fun kind, completely unrelated to the task at hand, and the serious kind that aids me in my long term goals, but takes away from the time that I need to accomplish my short-term goals.

Obviously, I bring this up for a reason.

For the former type of distraction, my brother and I left our kids with our wives and went with our dad to see Hellboy II.  I am not going to give it rave reviews, but it was a good distraction. 

Actually, I would encourage anyone preparing for the PMP, or any other serious endeavor, to try and schedule in some down-time just for the sake of maintaining your sanity.  Don’t go overboard, and cut back as you draw closer to crunch-time, but take the time to think about other things on occasion.  It can help you to gain perspective on issues you are dealing with.

The latter type of distraction came as a result of grading my practice exam and the video training I have been reviewing.  It was a passing score, but I am not going to fool myself into thinking I am ready for the exam today.  In reviewing my results, I identified several areas where I need to concentrate my studies.  These are:

• Inputs, outputs, tools & techniques
• Earned Value (formulas)
• Conflict, Risk, and Procurement Management

This is not to say I scored perfectly on other areas of the exam, but if my baseline is any indication of future performance, giving these areas additional attention as I study, and adjusting my areas of focus as I complete additional practice exams, will improve my chances of doing well on the exam.

Back to my distraction…

With my “weaknesses” in mind, I was reviewing the video training, and one of the recommendations it made was to make flash cards with the Process Groups on the front (I’m also including the Knowledge Areas), and the inputs, outputs, tools & techniques on the back.  I got about halfway through when I realized that I completely blew my personal goals for the week, which puts me in a situation that requires that I reevaluate my goals.

I just received the book that my study group selected.  I have not heard back from the rest of the group regarding whether or not they received theirs, yet.  I have proposed that we meet in two weeks (to allow everyone else to get their book), taking the time between now and our meeting to read the first two chapters of the book (introduction and Framework), complete the activities, and read the associated chapters in the PMBOK.

Now that the study group is going, my girls’ soccer team is starting up, and my wife is getting busy with her scrapbook store and school, I need to reduce my efforts toward my personal goals.  Completing the video training and the database are both good goals to keep, and completing the flash cards will also be helpful, but I can’t do all of them while doing everything else – it’s time to prioritize, or I won’t get anything done.

Considering that I am still of the opinion that the most challenging part of the exam will be completing the paperwork (because I spent 5 years NOT documenting my experience in the format that I will use when submitting my application), I will focus on the database for the next two weeks.  Following that, I will work on getting my project experience entered into the database.  I think I will finish the video training after that, and then do the flash cards.  I am not ready to start using the flash cards, yet, anyway, and I want to complete the video training several times before taking the exam to help keep the information fresh in my mind.

Based on the target dates for my individual and group study goals, my next posting will be in two weeks.  Happy studying!