The importance of prep

These things are true:

• As soon as you put a plan into play, things will change

• If you wait until everything is planned to the nth degree, you will never get started.

But, that doesn’t mean to just dash off head first without any plan.

Whatever you’re planning, doing a bit of preparation is key. It gives you a base to build from and something to fall back on.

I would argue that this is even more important when you’re doing something you’re comfortable with, something you know you can do with your eyes closed. As soon as complacency creeps in you stop paying attention.

Have you ever set off on a hike or a camping trip, and just grabbed your tent, stove, and head torch from where you always keep them? Then when you’re setting up camp, realised you don’t have tent pegs, your gas canister is empty and your head torch batteries are flat? It’s easily done.

It’s how the rugby team that is dominating at half time lose by a mile by the time the final whistle blows.

It’s what gets you in a flap when you launch into a presentation that you’ve given hundreds of times before only to find that the file won’t open.

It's why that piece of work ends up taking twice as long as you'd planned.

Preparation keeps you focused, and it doesn't have to involve very much.

Sometimes a few moments of reflection is all that's needed.