Prepare better, Perform better

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

- Abraham Lincoln

Few days back, I had the opportunity to attend a residential business workshop at Kodaikanal, organised by YES (Young Entrepreneur School). The founder and Chairman of YES, Mr.Neethimohan, took us on a morning walk around the Kodai lake. During this time, he stressed on the importance of being prepared, before any task we intend to do. He said, “One of the key qualities of a successful businessman is his preparedness. This state of preparedness will help you to perform better and bring about positive and productive results”. It made a lot of sense to me.

While most of us are so busy doing thing or executing actions, how many of us spend the right amount of time for preparation. The 3 ‘P’ for effectiveness is Plan, Prepare and Perform. Therefore, preparation should precede every performance, to make the performance effective. The quality of the performance directly depends upon the quality of preparation.

Anything and everything we do at work, needs adequate preparation. It could be anything right from making a speech or presentation, meeting a customer, visiting a trade fair, attending a business conference or participating in a seminar.  We tend to think, we can manage it in the last moment, which is primarily owing to our overconfidence. But the truth is that, the quality of our performance would take a beating, when we are not prepared.

Most of you, might have watched the inaugural ceremony of the Olympics. There are a few awesome performances we get to watch, with so much of grandneur and synchronisation. What we get to see is a 10 minute performance, but behind that 10 minute performance there is bound to be 100’s of hours of preparation. So, what we clap for or give a standing ovation is not just for the 10 minute performance, but for the painstaking preparation, that went behind it.

One of my friends, in the training fraternity, tells this about school exams. He says, a student studies for 300 days, writes an exam for 3 hours and his answer sheet gets evaluated in 3 minutes. Isn’t this true? Hours of preparation, finally leads to one ultimate performance. So, isn’t it wise to give adequate time for preparation?

So, learn to make preparation a vital ingredient of your daily life, may it be for personal, social or work. Let this thought get deeply engrained in your mind that, without adequate preparation there is no great performance.

Let us say, you are travelling abroad, get to learn a few words and phrases of that country, and you would be amazed to see the difference in the type of reception, you get. You can also be prepared by checking the weather and carry the right type of clothing, checking the map to plan your travel accordingly, and so on. With the power of internet, this preparation part gets quiet easy. So, leverage it, to your best use.

As a more prepared person, you would be looked up with high esteem and people would trust you, because they know that you have done your ground work.

There is a saying. “Success is where preparation and opportunity meet”. There are a number of opportunities coming our way, but unless we are prepared to capitalise upon an opportunity, we cannot be successful. So, let us give due importance to preparation and make it a lifelong habit.

 D. Senthil Kannan,

Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com