Tag Archives: preparation

Prepare to Succeed

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The other day, I wrote a post titled “Prepare for Success“. In it I asked, “So, have you gotten the revelation, yet, to prepare for success?” I then went on to talk about revelation – the “ah-ha” moment you need to have concerning preparing for success.

Next, I wrote about a different aspect of that question, that of expectancy. I asked, “Are you expecting to succeed?” And we talked about the power of expectation.

Finally, I want to address the most obvious aspect of Preparing for Success — the preparation part. This could easily grow into a book chapter (or more), but I don’t have space for that here, so I will try to keep it succinct… and touch on this aspect more in future posts… or books. :-)

The first thing I feel compelled to state is that, yes, you do have to prepare for success. Success doesn’t just happen by itself. And in this, I am talking about something different than the things you do to succeed. I am talking about the preparations you need to make for when success occurs. (By the way, I was about to use the word “happens” instead of “occurs” but we both know (don’t we?) that success doesn’t “happen”, but is the result of a lot of effort and planning.)

We might use the analogy of houseguests that you have invited. If you don’t prepare for them before they show up, they won’t stay long… and the visit won’t be that enjoyable.

“Sorry, I don’t have anything to feed you. I just have enough for myself. You don’t mind, do you? Oh, and I didn’t get around to getting anything for you to sleep on, but, hey, they say that “firm” is good for the back, so you won’t mind sleeping on the floor would you? Speaking of the floor, you might want to vacuum before you do, though…. But, I’m sure glad you came. It’s good to see you.”

If this is you, remind me not to come stay with you. :-)

If you don’t prepare for success, it will either:

1) come along and catch you unprepared (squandering your efforts)

OR

2) never actually arrive (sometimes the preparations are a crucial part of the set-up for success.)

For point 2, I actually know a couple who flew into town to visit friends. Those friends were supposed to pick them up at the airport. Except that the friends forgot. Couple calls them after waiting around a while, looking for their ride. “Sorry, we forgot. Could you take a shuttle or cab out here to our house?” Couple got back on the next plane and went home.

I see too many people dreaming about success… maybe even working toward it… but giving no thought to what it will take to sustain it if it happens. They aren’t prepared for success.

So, in your efforts to succeed, by all means, spend most of your time planning how you will succeed (and carrying out the plan). But include a little time to address how you will sustain that success once it happens… in other words, Prepare To Succeed.

So how are you planning to succeed… or not? Use the comments and share your story with us.

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Prepare for Success

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So, have you gotten the revelation, yet, to prepare for success?

That question can mean different things to different people… what did you think of?

Did you think about your level of expectancy? Are you expecting to succeed?

Maybe you keyed in on the preparation part. Yes, it’s true, you do have to prepare. Success doesn’t just happen by itself.

Or maybe you got hung up on the term revelation. Did that throw you or make you think that you had to have some mystical experience in order to achieve success?

In future posts I want to talk more about the first and second meaning. They are important and I don’t want to leave them behind. …But I don’t have room to cover them here, today

Today, let’s talk about revelation. I’m not really talking about mystical experience, but I am talking about special insight. You know, that light-bulb-going-off-in-the-head experience where you are suddenly aware of something you were ignorant of before.

I had one of those recently… about being prepared for success (surprise, surprise.) My lightbulb came on when I was deep in the middle of a networking/marketing strategy. The strategy was a combination of online and offline networking. I was preparing information, and short presentations about the upcoming classes I was going to teach, and working with contacts to get some venues set up.

I was quite happy doing that, busy with the things that needed to happen. And then I got the revelation.

It came about as I was suddenly pondering what would happen if a couple of these strategies worked… very well… at the same time. If that happened, I realized that I didn’t have systems in place to handle them.

Now, I am not suggesting that you should make wild success your first priority, but you do need to put it into your thinking.

I did not drop everything and rush off to create systems (or hire them) to handle wild success. I did, however, make a note to visit that aspect within a few days to explore what I would need to have in place if it did start to come true. And, in a few days, I did do that exploration. I satisfied myself that I could quickly pull together the resources I would need (on a contingency basis) if things worked out really well.

I also revisited my plans for continued, incremental growth to make sure that was covered, too. (Especially since that is the more likely scenario.)

And with that adjustment, I am now better prepared to handle my business whether the growth is slow, medium, or wildly fast. And I like that. And I think my clients will appreciate it, too.

Now, how about you — are you prepared for success? Use the comments and share what you have done to prepare for it.

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