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 the predictable or unexpected events in our lives, we enhance our
own self-discipline. In my opinion, self-discipline is one of the
foundations to 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 with 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 have to 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 is
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 recognise 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 behaviour but this is a skill that we develop. So think about
it. You are preparing for a customer presentation, you know what they
expect, 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 are 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 that
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 that of resilience. Unless you have done
the preparation, thought it through, 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 on our course, making adjustments and realignments.
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