When my daughters were little they went to lots of summer camps, music camp, cooking camp ect. One day they asked me if I ever went to camp. I said,”Yes, camp Francitas.” Our family ranch was on the outskirts of a small Texas ghost town, Francitas. I wasn’t interested in any camps. I was busy being a cowboy with my Dad. It’s hard to overrate the impact that had on me. Ironically, one of the most important lessons I learned from can be summed up in the Boy Scout motto, Be Prepared. It turns out Dad was a great scout master, even though he never took me camping.
Years later when I coached basketball, I modified that motto into the 5 Ps, Proper Preparation Promotes Peak Performance. I came to realize in life that I wasn’t often going to be the most gifted person in most situations, but I could be the most prepared. That made a significant difference in the amount of success I experienced.
Besides having a terrific teacher, being prepared comes naturally for me. I am a 5-investigator on the Enneagram with a strong 6-loyalist wing. A five’s major goal in life is to be competent. The way most fives do that, including myself, is by investigating-gathering information. Fives don’t shoot from the hip. They are prepared. Loyalist project in the future to see the possible things that can go wrong. To manage that mindset they prepare.
In my last post, Empty Calories, I talked about deciding ahead of time not to eat certain junk food, or worry about people and the weather. It’s a hard thing to do at the moment. The key is making that decision in advance, before being in that situation.
In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear discusses the power of habits. Much of his strategy for adopting good habits is making them easier to do through preparation . I realized I’ve been doing that for years. I decide what habits I want and develop a strategy to make them easier.
One example of this is the add on. I perform a new habit right after doing an existing habit. I learned the best time to stretch is when my muscles are warm, so I added a stretching routine right after cycling. It’s a small thing, but many small things done over decades made a GIANT difference in my life. As I get used to them they just get easier and easier. Nothing more complicated than perception.
May you have enough today, one moment at a time.
THIS HELPED ME 