preperaton guide Dynamics Customer Engagement certification

Recently I passed the exam Mb-900 Dynamics fundamentals. I am playing around with Dynamics 365 for over a year now and i am eager to get the certification for that.
To challenge myself I scheduled the next exam eight weeks from now.

Dividere et conquere and the Pareto principal
Every task will take the time that is given for it. The Italian mathematician Pareto formulated this principle. It doesn't really matter if I set the date for the next exam eight or ten weeks from now. It will take the time I'll give myself. It is important in that matter, that I'll have to set myself a deadline. Otherwise it could take to infinity to accomplish my goal.
The next exam MB-200 is it much more difficult exam than the fundamentals. It is not only multiple choice. I'll have to pay attention to the details and there will be some practical labs.
Looking at the exam as a whole would be paralysing for me. So I divided my preparation in small durable parts. Dividere et conquere is known by the Romans and served empowers like Caesar well.

Resources
To get a trial for the practice labs is essential.
In openedx there are 4 courses that cover the topics of the exam
Additional to that there are these learning paths on Microsoft learn.

I identified 48 single topics I had to learn. Consistency is king. But I am not really a disciplined learner. To learn every day for one hour learn every would be doable.  I created a kanban board to keep track of my progress.
Now I am all wrapped up and ready to go.
Not really I spend an hour at the gym to calm down and deal with the excitement and anxiety.

What matters today (to me)

Recently I read Make Time and Getting Things done. I wondered how my future work-life would look like.
I took an inventory of my life - what is already there - what do I want to be there. The things that matters to me:

reading, hearing, seeing interesting thoughts

 I love the internet, I love watching youtube, listening to podcast and reading newsletters and blog posts. I love to know what others think.
This is time consuming and sometimes it is a distraction from what I should do. But at the moment I need this like looking in the mirror. I ask myself, can I see myself there. Sometimes this is empowering and sometimes it discouraging.
I also love to attend festivals, conferences, meetups and read books. The offline world matters as much to me. Because in the end we live in the offline world - that's what I believe

having interesting thoughts on my own

this happens naturally when I spend some quality time with myself. When I meditate, sit in silence, write my morning pages. It is a reaction to the thoughts that I read hear and see. Questions pop up.

Is this relay so? What if....? But how..? 

It happens when I disagree with something and I want to give my first reaction a solid foundation.

Introspection and listening to my intuition is the key.

articulate and publish my ideas

This is what I struggle the most with. I am at the beginning. Don't let myself hide. Please bare with me. I take baby steps forward. This is one of them.

spend quality time with the ones I love

As I am writing this I am sitting in my living room listening to music with my wife. We met 10 years ago and it is the greatest gift in my life.

I was kind of a loner and I still am somehow. I feel comfortable being on my own. But a lot of things are more valuable when I can share them with somebody. It is like in the movie Into The Wild. True happiness needs to be shares. I love to travel. On one trip through the south of Italy I realised that I don't want to travel alone. Going to a restaurant alone is much less fun.

In good times and in bad times. My wife and I lost our mothers, a father and a close friend during these years. I cannot imagine to go to the grief and pain without her support.

spend quality time with myself

As I mentioned before meditation, being alone matters to me. But also go to the gym go swimming, riding my bicycle, exercising is quality time. writing, taking pictures, listening to music are activities that nurtures my soul.

growing

I am hungry to learn and experience new things. Visit places I have never been before, explore new paths, expand my horizon, do things I have never done before.

To step out of the comfort zone takes practice. To challenge myself is liberating. To allow myself to make mistakes and face my fears let my confidence grow. It doesn't matter how often I fall down. What matters is how often I stand up again.

How does that fit into my actual work-life?

Part of it is already there. I managed to take a day of in the week to focus on my self. My finical resources are limited and I am looking for ways to improve that. It is not that I care about money or that I want to get rich. But money is a accelerator, a tool that helps me to achieve more and reach my goals faster. I am great full for the love and support of my wife and friends. I exercise two times a week. The morning pages a part of my morning routine. If I didn't make I know that I always come back to it easily.

What I want to do more: Writing my business journal, record my ideas and share it with my audience. Get a coaching certification and start my own business. Do the work in alignment with my natural rhythm.

How to grow?

Daxsha is planing to move to L.A.

Shine where you're planted - they post in their memes. Yet they haven't developed any roots.

Independent and free they can move on to the anywhere anytime.

There is always this longing for something bigger, something brighter

To transcend every moment into something larger than life.

A palce called Home

How to Grow

I love to expand in different directions at the same time. I don't see any reason not to do so. If I look at nature there are plants that grow in only one direction like asparagus but there are also this beautiful trees that spread all over

being challenged

I value my work and this may challenges other people opinions and what they used to do. This time I was challenged. It made me think and question what I was used to do. It was a challenge but it also led me to value my work more.

During my lunch break I watched how this gull. How she managed to stay in one place in the middle of the canal with almost no effort was really meditative.