Importance Of Preparation Stage

Importance Of Preparation Stage

(Attach from Raymond's Life Blog-http://lifeblog.raywiredweb.com/)

In less than a few weeks time, whether we like it or not, we’ll need to bid farewell to year 2009. I hope all of you have had a fruitful year. Many of my friends are counting their accomplishments and doing their yearly assessment already to plan ahead for 2010.

But what if you have not achieve much this year? It’s alright. You can always start somewhere and the best of course is to start right NOW! However, the year ahead won’t be much different unless and until we take different approaches and apply different strategies in doing things.

So, you would be asking, how should we kick start our plans? Well, honestly, if you don’t have any plan, there would be nothing to kick start with. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

For me, I’m adopting the Gap Analysis concept; First, know where you are! Second, know where you want to go. Third, plan up how to get there!



The first step is truly crucial. Logically, if you are not sure where you are, how sure are you that you’ll reach the destination on time (that if you do at least know where you are going and the way to get there). Some people might refuse to admit their current circumstances due to poor performances or simply because of pride. But whatever it is, we must be true to ourselves, take fullest responsibility of all our actions that have lead us to where we are now. Unless we choose to overcome our circumstances or soon we will be overcomed by our it.

Therefore, how should we actually start our first step in order to have a fruitful year ahead? For me, the best way is to have Goals & Visions written down plainly.

Before that, let’s check out some of the reasons why most people don’t write down their Goals & Visions.
1. They don’t dare to have goals as they have no confident to achieve them.
2. They don’t think that they have the discipline to follow through.
3. They don’t think it is practical. (truly depends on how you structure it)

But in the other hand, there are lots of benefits of writing down our Goals and Visions …
1. You know exactly what you want to achieve.
2. You can review the action plans stated earlier and make adjustments later.
3. It will serve as a reminder. (as we always tend to forget)
4. Better tracking system on your achievements.

I would rather put more weight on preparation stage rather than the executing stage simply because I know things done right in the first place will eliminate much troubles later. Even if things doesn’t go on smoothly sometimes but I believe it will still at least be within our controls.

Abraham Lincoln said this, “If I’m given 8 hours to chop down a tree, I would use 6 hours to sharpen my axe”!

Don’t you agree with Lincoln’s quote? It’s so practical. If the axe is not sharpen in the first place, you might need to pause a few times in order to sharpen it before you can start chopping again. What will happen then? Your work flow and momentum will be disturbed. You will need to re-motivate yourself again and again to start doing the same task.

You might be able to get back the motivation to start over again but would it still have the same intensity as in the first place? What if your motivation fail to re-start? Your job will be left undone and it will be hanging there. What will possibly happen then? First, the half-chopped tree might be dangerous as it might fall anytime (might cause unnecessary trouble to others) or someone else will come and finish the job and claim the credit (you will not only be known as the initiator but also the quiter and someone else will be remembered as the finisher).

If we prepare our foundation work properly, we would have minimize the cracks that might appear later. No doubt problems might still appear here and there or now and then, so, prepare the protocols to troubleshoot that as well!

“I will prepare and some day my chance will come” by Abraham Lincoln.