The Key to Preparedness

Do you Prepare for your Upcoming Day The key to having as smooth a day as possible is being prepared for the challenges that it will bring. The worst thing that you can ever do is to procrastinate when you have an upcoming task. There is always something that you can and need to do in order to be ready for it when it comes. My experience in the military was that I never saw an operation go according to plan, but I learned that detailed preparation was essential in keeping things together when things go wrong. Murphy’s Law says that things will always go wrong at the worst possible time and they certainly seem to. The key to not having your plans derailed when things do go wrong is to be totally prepared. When you have prepared and rehearsed your actions you won’t have much of a problem making situational adjustments. I found that as a military leader it was always best to make sure that my subordinates understood exactly what they were required to do, the exact time that they needed to do it, and why it was important that they were done at the right time and in the right way. There were times in the field that we would lose radio communications and I would not be able to talk to them or communicate with them in any way. When I knew that they had been thoroughly rehearsed I knew exactly what they were doing and what their next move would be. It was also important that they were aware of my intent and the intelligence that I was acting on because if they could not contact me for directions they would have no problem taking the right actions. Organization begins with the individual and is also important. When you are organized yourself you are better able to manage situations and circumstances. It is best to think situations through before they occur than having to come up with a plan while you are in the middle of a disaster. It is also better for your people to have a disaster plan before it is needed. When things begin to go wrong they become a chain reaction. One bad thing leads to another. If you are adequately prepared you don’t have to waste valuable time attempting to make decisions that could have been made earlier. I like to spend the last hour or so of my work day planning what I want to do on the next day. I will look at my upcoming events calendar and list the things that I need to do. I will then prioritize them according to several factors. If I need to visit some type agency I need to know the operating hours. There is no sense going there at eleven o clock if they won’t be open at that time. There is no sense going anywhere around lunchtime or peak traffic hours. When you do this you are just asking for trouble and unnecessary stress. Plan your route so that you make it easy to hit all of your stops in one clean easy swoop. I also don’t like to waste time with nonproductive activities before I have completed all of the necessary production tasks. I would much rather have all of my chores completed before I kick back. Completed assignments mean peace of mind. Being adequately prepared means being stress free. The Good Life