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by Thomas Phelps
If you have yet to start the CPSP Certification, I strongly suggest you start soon. With 2012 ending (and with the Mayan calendar interpretations of the world ending being proven wrong,) now is a great time to start the program.
I’ve blogged after completing weeks 1 and 2 in the past, and wanted to share my overall thoughts now that I am nearly 50% of the way through the certification process.
I am busy. Very busy, in fact.
Not only do I own my own business, but I am also a husband, father of two, volunteer fire fighter, Vice President of my Fire Department, active in my community, an author, son, brother, friend and musician. Most of my days end with falling asleep while still working on something and with a list of unfinished items. (This list is much smaller now since I began using structured morning routines, however!)
When I was considering starting the CPSP certification, my first reaction was “when will I have time to give the training the time it demands?”
Well after 21 days, I can confidently say that the 15 minutes the certification exercises take me each day are well worth it. The lessons learned have not only made me much more focused, but have ended up freeing up hours of time each day once I implemented the lessons.
The time commitment concern was certainly an unfounded one.
I am certainly not a CPSP expert (nor am I even certified as of the publishing of this article) but I do feel confident in my ability to share what I feel this certification’s main focus items are. And unlike many other training programs I’ve gone through, the CPSP’s areas are well integrated. Each area supports the others, making an improvement in one focus area an improvement in them all.
In essence, the main focus areas in the CPSP certification are Your Goals, Your Mindset, Your Actions and Your Role Models. The first 3 areas are not too surprising but the last one, Your Role Models, is.
I have long been a believer is finding a role model and learning as much about him or her as possible. I have several role models; at least 1 for each area of my life. If I want to improve in a life area or to learn a new skill, I find someone who is an expert in that area or has demonstrated mastery in a particular skill and learn what I can about them.
My role models have saved me a lot of time because I can learn what mistakes they made and what strategies worked for them as they moved towards success. While no one is responsible for my success or failure but me, my role models are of significant importance to my success. The funny thing is that I have never met any of my role models and, most likely, never will!
I’ve had role models that were in that “role” for a short as a few weeks and some that have been important to me for well over a decade. The important thing is having role models. And when I learned that role models were a part of the CPSP certification process, I was excited to revisit the value of having role models in my life.
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