Lack of preparation can often lead to great disappointment and failure. Discover these four benefits of preparation.
How good are you at being prepared? Are you extremely self-disciplined and ready for every contingency or are you more of a go-with-the-flow type and consider being prepared as a useless concept?
It was while walking on a beautiful autumn day through the neighborhood near my home that I realized I was doing everything backward. In South Africa, they say, “You have done things arise about-face.” This means you have attempted to do things backwardly, not in the right order, and been ill-prepared, and this is exactly how it was for me on that day. It was a glorious day. As far as the eye could see the sky was azure blue, many people were out, and all was well with the world, but I had totally underestimated the weather on that day. Before leaving home, I had not ventured outside to see how cold it was, and arriving on the moor, which is normally 3ᵒC colder than where I live, I was completely unprepared.
"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail" — Benjamin Franklin
There I was wearing a T-Shirt and a waterproof jacket, but this was insufficient to keep me warm. I was reminded of how we often live our lives unprepared. We might want to take on a major or inconsequential task but not have the foresight or inspiration to prepare for it.
Think of how often you have been unprepared. That meeting, the interview, the game you are playing, the dinner, that relationship ending, a change in health status, the passing of a loved one or even winning the lotto… Were you prepared?
We all know that once the water has run downstream, we can’t get it back. Likewise, when we are unprepared, we have lost the opportunity and squandered the moment.
We know that life is spontaneous and random at times and there are many things that take us by surprise that we never see coming or that we can’t prepare for. I am also a firm believer in being flexible and not trying to control everything or being too rigid about things, but on the other hand, when we are well prepared, we can easily jump to Plan B if needed or practice flexibility and adapt when circumstances change.
Returning to my story of my walk, on that day, I had no gloves, or hat with me. Perhaps if I had been better prepared, I would have enjoyed my walk more. I would have been able to take my time, spend more time outdoors, and not have to rush to return to the warmth of my car.
"Success is where preparation and opportunity meet" — Bobby Unser
You may be asking yourself what the point of this story is, well I think the point I would like to make is that preparation is an essential, often neglected, part of life. Practicing the art of preparation allows us to hone four key skills.
Being Prepared Enhances Self Discipline
In this sense, I am talking of the discipline of having a routine or habit, not the discipline to control or regulate, although forming a good habit is a form of self-control and regulation.
When we routinely prepare ourselves for predictable or unexpected events in our lives, we enhance our own self-discipline. Self-discipline is one of the foundations of living a happy life. The act of becoming prepared means that we discipline ourselves to make the time to prepare. We get over the feeling of “I don’t feel like doing this now” We put off procrastination, we dump the excuses and we become mindful of what we are doing and ourselves.
Being Prepared Enhances Our Strategic Thinking
If you’re like me, as you are preparing for that meeting, vacation, or dinner with a friend you are having an internal dialogue with yourself. You may be thinking of the meeting agenda or the presentation you must give, you may be thinking of what you need to prepare for your vacation, all the tasks you need to complete, what to pack in your suitcase, check your travel insurance, etc.
The more complex the task, the higher degree of strategic thinking is required. None of us are born master strategic thinkers; it’s a skill that is born through practice and experience. Regardless of what you are preparing for, you can hone this skill. Unbelievably as you look out your window each day before you dress, your brain has already thought a thousand strategic thoughts in preparation for getting you to your destination appropriately clothed, dry, on time, and in one piece. We may not always recognize our thoughts as being strategic, but each act of preparation is honing these skills.
Being Prepared Increases Our Flexibility
If you are self-disciplined and open to thinking strategically there is a possibility that your thought processes will expand with fluidity and flexibility. Not everyone who is self-disciplined and thinks strategically is able to be flexible in his or her behavior, but this is a skill that we develop.
So, think about it. You are preparing for a customer presentation, you know what they expect, and what you can offer, and yet while hoping that it will run smoothly you are aware that problems may arise. Therefore, part of your preparation will be to look at those potential hiccups and do some scenario planning. As you work through different scenarios, you will prepare for different outcomes. This is flexibility and it is the foolhardy who is unprepared for change or unwilling to be flexible. By preparing to be flexible, we are also building a critical trait to have, namely resilience.
Being Prepared Develops Our Resilience
Resilience is the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens. As we develop all our other skills, we often spend little time developing resilience.
Unless you have done the preparation, thought it through, and evaluated all the known scenarios you will always be shocked by the unforeseen or by failure. It is in preparation that we develop our mental resilience, and it is through failure that we develop a life of resilience. We all know that not every plan leads to success, and it is through failure that we reach success, but often being unprepared leads to a bitter taste in the mouth.
Having resilience allows us to stand up eight times after we’ve been knocked down seven and to continue our course, adjusting and realignments.
"Before anything else, preparation is the key to success" — Alexander Graham Bell
Take a moment to consider how you go about your daily life. Are you missing some wonderful opportunities because you are not preparing yourself sufficiently? Do you always repeat the same “mistakes” because you resist preparation?
I encourage you to think about these four powerful benefits of being prepared and consider if you can implement them in your life in a consistent and sustainable way.
Coach Nye
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