Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Wednesday Aug. 16, 2006 - Year 4, Day 148 - be prepared
11C/52F, cool & damp après shower weather in south Calgary this morning; Gusta must be confused by those mid-sized ducks in the lagoon as they have grown from fuzzy chicks in a few short weeks – now eating their way to flight-weight for the trip south – they need to be prepared, it is important; critical in fact
this causes me to wonder how we human critters, traveling or otherwise, get & stay prepared - how I might better be prepared, be it for a meeting, a trip, for life, for death, for the next call or for the 10 AM meeting
I mean deliberately getting ready – really ready for something important, being prepared for something pivotal is always my theory/plan on big things that matter; but more & more as the pace of work & business quickens for most of us, I wonder how well prepared I am, how well we all are doing when it comes to being prepared
I can read, re-read & digest material in preparation for an important meeting; I can brainstorm with partners, teammates, suppliers & colleagues on how to best skin the cat on the great ‘next project’ we are striving to capture; each are deliberate, effective & energizing
I am only speaking for me here as many of you might be very different (please send me your secret tricks if you have them) – I find the multitude of ‘other stuff’ that sits on my desk each day, atop or at the bottom of tomorrow’s pile of things that need attention do not get my ‘be prepared’ approach - perhaps they should?
is it because I cannot devote the time, the energy or the quality of thought that it takes to make each returned call, each memo written, each report presented, each ‘little thing’ taken care of with the same zeal, determination & application of planning that ‘the big things’ regularly get?
I am trying to better separate those ‘little things’ into trash, quicker resolution (handle them once) & ‘this could be really important’ categories
be prepared, it could be really important
preparation – for a meeting this morning, for a proposal I am writing & a speech I am doing tonight will fill a large part of my day, so too will the ever-present pile + incoming calls & emails in large volume – how can I be REALLY prepared for everything? I cannot, but maybe those ducks are helping me focus best on what is most important
I am reminded this morning as I read the press release announcing the Jules Dallaire, CEO of Cominar REIT; to me he has been someone of note in the commercial real estate industry but I also know him from the musings distribution list; I have no idea if Jules Dallaire read them daily or if it was someone on his staff that read them or hit delete; I never heard from him, never met him, never talked to him, but this morning the list goes down by one
as I read of his struggle with cancer & death this morning it struck me as a reminder, not so much about mortality as it did remind me of preparation, but watching those ducks drove it home
I never graduated from Cubs to Scouts because I could not master the knots (explains why I am not a water baby/sailor type perhaps?) & then other interests intervened but that ‘Be Prepared’ Boy Scout motto sticks in my memory; but I digress
ducks do it instinctively they teach each new generation of ducks to eat hearty, learn feeding skills & predator avoidance in order to be prepared for the big trip
in their case, a trip south dodging deadly shot-gun pellets along the way; perhaps metaphor for all of us on our life journey – some of us dodging the bullet, some not
to me, perhaps for us all, there is clearly a difference between being prepared vis-à-vis altering the course of events; I want to BE PREPARED more effectively because the next little piece of paper, innocuous email or phone message could be REALLY IMPORTANT
none of us control anything, but we can control whether or not we are prepared
I must go now, important meeting & some errands + need to polish my speech for Toastmasters tonight . . I am prepared, it could be really important
be prepared, it could be really important
‘If I always appear prepared, it is because before entering an undertaking, I have meditated long and have foreseen what might occur. It is not genius where reveals to me suddenly and secretly what I should do in circumstances unexpected by others; it is thought and preparation.’ - Napoleon Bonaparte
Mark
this causes me to wonder how we human critters, traveling or otherwise, get & stay prepared - how I might better be prepared, be it for a meeting, a trip, for life, for death, for the next call or for the 10 AM meeting
I mean deliberately getting ready – really ready for something important, being prepared for something pivotal is always my theory/plan on big things that matter; but more & more as the pace of work & business quickens for most of us, I wonder how well prepared I am, how well we all are doing when it comes to being prepared
I can read, re-read & digest material in preparation for an important meeting; I can brainstorm with partners, teammates, suppliers & colleagues on how to best skin the cat on the great ‘next project’ we are striving to capture; each are deliberate, effective & energizing
I am only speaking for me here as many of you might be very different (please send me your secret tricks if you have them) – I find the multitude of ‘other stuff’ that sits on my desk each day, atop or at the bottom of tomorrow’s pile of things that need attention do not get my ‘be prepared’ approach - perhaps they should?
is it because I cannot devote the time, the energy or the quality of thought that it takes to make each returned call, each memo written, each report presented, each ‘little thing’ taken care of with the same zeal, determination & application of planning that ‘the big things’ regularly get?
I am trying to better separate those ‘little things’ into trash, quicker resolution (handle them once) & ‘this could be really important’ categories
be prepared, it could be really important
preparation – for a meeting this morning, for a proposal I am writing & a speech I am doing tonight will fill a large part of my day, so too will the ever-present pile + incoming calls & emails in large volume – how can I be REALLY prepared for everything? I cannot, but maybe those ducks are helping me focus best on what is most important
I am reminded this morning as I read the press release announcing the Jules Dallaire, CEO of Cominar REIT; to me he has been someone of note in the commercial real estate industry but I also know him from the musings distribution list; I have no idea if Jules Dallaire read them daily or if it was someone on his staff that read them or hit delete; I never heard from him, never met him, never talked to him, but this morning the list goes down by one
as I read of his struggle with cancer & death this morning it struck me as a reminder, not so much about mortality as it did remind me of preparation, but watching those ducks drove it home
I never graduated from Cubs to Scouts because I could not master the knots (explains why I am not a water baby/sailor type perhaps?) & then other interests intervened but that ‘Be Prepared’ Boy Scout motto sticks in my memory; but I digress
ducks do it instinctively they teach each new generation of ducks to eat hearty, learn feeding skills & predator avoidance in order to be prepared for the big trip
in their case, a trip south dodging deadly shot-gun pellets along the way; perhaps metaphor for all of us on our life journey – some of us dodging the bullet, some not
to me, perhaps for us all, there is clearly a difference between being prepared vis-à-vis altering the course of events; I want to BE PREPARED more effectively because the next little piece of paper, innocuous email or phone message could be REALLY IMPORTANT
none of us control anything, but we can control whether or not we are prepared
I must go now, important meeting & some errands + need to polish my speech for Toastmasters tonight . . I am prepared, it could be really important
be prepared, it could be really important
‘If I always appear prepared, it is because before entering an undertaking, I have meditated long and have foreseen what might occur. It is not genius where reveals to me suddenly and secretly what I should do in circumstances unexpected by others; it is thought and preparation.’ - Napoleon Bonaparte
Mark
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