The Day After PMP

I still remember the day after I passed my PMP exam in 2020. I walked into the office with this strange sense of anticipation—like something big was supposed to happen. I had this feeling that everything around me was going to be different now. I had earned a globally respected credential. I had put in the hard work. I had studied processes, frameworks, and tools. I was ready for... I don’t know, a revolution?

So I sat at my desk, almost waiting for the magic to begin.

And then—someone from the site walked in and said,

"*Sir, there’s no cement in the store. And they don’t know when it will be delivered*."

I looked up, paused for a moment, and thought to myself,

"Wait… I just became a PMP. And this is my first challenge? Cement?"

It hit me like a bucket of cold water. I hadn’t studied all those process groups and knowledge areas to be solving the same old cement problems! I almost laughed—almost.

But then, I did what I always did. I made some calls, spoke to the supplier, arranged a workaround, and got the team back on track. The chaos continued, just like it had before. And somewhere in the flurry of activity, that grand expectation I had—the one that something would instantly change—faded away, buried under the pressure of daily tasks.

Weeks passed.

Then, maybe two months later, my senior walked up to me and said something that made me stop in my tracks. He said,

"Saud, there’s something different about you lately. Your approach to work—it’s changed. I can see it."

That one sentence... that was the moment it hit me. The change wasn’t supposed to be in the work. It was meant to be in me. PMP hadn’t changed the project—it had changed the project manager.

That’s what I tell my students now, when they ask me,

"Will PMP do anything?"

And I smile and say,

"PMP won’t magically change your project. You’ll still walk onto the same site and solve the same cement issue. But you—you’ll handle it differently. You’ll think differently. You’ll plan, act, and communicate like a leader. That’s the real value."

And many of them also ask me,

"Sir, do we get templates? Like, a ready-made issue log or risk register?"

And I tell them—PMP may give you the structure and the reason behind every tool, but it’s not about copy-pasting a template. It’s about understanding the why behind it. Once you get that, you won’t just fill registers—you’ll build systems. You won’t just manage—you’ll lead.

Because after PMP, you don’t just follow someone else’s path.

You create your own world.

You design processes that work for your project, your team, and your environment.

So don’t just think like a manager.

Think like a leader. Build your own framework.

CREATE YOUR OWN IMPACT