Perfect the art of meticulous preparation

were pre-planning and training.
In today’s instalment I am concerned about four stages of preparation before a fishing competition.

You can easily tell disorganised fishermen from organised ones just before you start fishing.
You can’t help noticing that some come without the fishing rod, some without tackle, some without sinkers. However, one interesting thing is most fishermen do not forget to bring either their food or their beers although these are not their key success factors. All this points to lack of preparation.

Merriam Webster describes preparation as, “the action or process of making something ready for use or service or of getting ready for some occasion, test, or duty” (www.merriam – Webster.dictionary).
Preparation is best understood when we analyse the behaviour of expecting women.

There are physical purchases that have to be taken care of. Some of the requirements of maternity hospitals comprise cotton wool, Betadin, methylated spirit, nappies, towels and baby clothes.
The advancement in technology has enabled expecting parents to know beforehand the gender of the unborn child. This has enabled the “mother to be” to buy correct clothes for “child to be”.

There are a lot of fantasies involved when preparing for a baby. Mentally, this is what sometimes goes through the mind of an expecting woman.
Which ribbons would I tie to my baby?

Which position will I sit in the church with my baby?
I will buy a pram for the baby.

I will be going to town with my baby.
Rarely do they fantasise about sickness or spending the whole night awake.

Rarely do women mentally prepare for a stillbirth or disabled children.
Failure to prepare women for such eventualities can result in postnatal depression and other stress-related challenges. For a woman to be adequately and mentally prepared for giving birth, both negative and positive aspects should be taken into consideration.

Nevertheless mental preparation is one of the significant elements of preparation.
Women can also take antenatal lessons facilitated by trained midwives.

During the lessons women are taught how to look after themselves during pregnancy or delivery time. Women are also taught the types of exercises they have to do, what posture to use when sleeping during their expectancy time and how best their spouses can support them during labour (though very few men assist them during labour time).

Therefore education is an integral part of preparation.
Communication is a vital aspect in expecting mothers and fathers. It has been scientifically proven that when you talk to the unborn child, they hear and respond. Most expecting mothers are advised to talk, read and sing for the child.

The father-to-be is also encouraged to talk to the baby. Talking to the unborn child enables the child to recognise the voices of the people who matter to the child before birth.
Most expecting mothers have very strong needs for affiliation. Bearing a child at times enables them to be more acceptable if most of their peers already have children.

In our culture our mothers find joy in being called after their first children, for example Mai James (mother of James).
Peers or the family unit is very important in supporting the expecting mother during pregnancy. They just need people who can encourage them that they will succeed.

Most human beings have a spiritual aspects. They believe that in all things they do, they need the protection of God. Whether people believe it or not, spirit plays a pivotal role in shaping our hopes and aspirations. In this context the expecting woman prays for the child and herself.

Her peers or her own parents also pray for successful delivery of the baby. Spirit is crucial in facilitating a hope for the future. The correct spirit levels also help in overcoming the fears that are associated with pregnancy.

A woman who is preparing for a second child has a slight advantage over the first timers. She has experience, which she relies on when making most of her preparations. She knows what to expect. Her learning is smaller.

However, in preparing for a new child there are fantasies and fears though people are encouraged to talk about fantasies more than fears.
From the analogy outlined above the following steps need to be taken into account when preparing for any business venture.
Physical aspects

The following issues need to be addressed:

What are the physical assets we need to accomplish the task at hand?

What are the human resources requirements for the task at hand?

What are financial resources we need to accomplish the task?

Mental visualisation of the desired destination plays a critical role in determining your level of preparedness. Most companies’ vision and mission are rarely communicated to the staff members.
As a result your staff members are not energised by the fantasies created by the companies’ future possibilities.
Most studies which were carried out on weightlifters revealed that the mentally prepared weightlifters performs better than those who are not mentally prepared. (Mentally prepared lift heavier weights than those who are not).

Mental preparation is known to improve self-esteem in terms of visualisation of your goal. Everything starts with the mind and is then fulfilled by the body.
Most companies do not reconcile their skill set to the jobs at hand.

Rarely do companies do skills gap analysis. Skills gap analysis enables companies to make decisions on hiring or scaling down have on that particular assignment.

The company can also invest in education to get the important skill. This might require sending staff on attachment to certain suppliers or sending staff to universities or colleges to improve their level of preparedness. This cuts down the trial and error time.

Most of our staff members have needs for affiliation or recognition. Companies are more than ever required to identify whether the benefits the employees will get from the tasks at hand will enable their employees to gain more acceptance (status) from their fellow peers.

In addition, employees at times require people who can encourage them. These could be fellow employees (or family support structure) who can tell them the magic words, ‘’you can make it”.
It is even better when they are there when it matters for the employee. This actually improves the level of employees’ preparedness.

Have you ever watched the performances of children during sporting activities when their parents are there to cheer them on?
Spiritual preparation is also relatively important. People rely on God or whoever they believe in to succeed. Spiritually if they are not prepared, they believe God does not want them to have it.

If they fail they believe it is some sort of punishment from God.
Job blamed God when he lost everything he had yet it was the Devil who consumed his animals and killed his children.

All his possessions were consumed. This affects the way we relate to God which can stop us from achieving our goals.

Overcoming employees’ fear is very important in improving the level of preparedness. The reason why most of employees and management fear is because they have no knowledge and are not prepared for the circumstances.

People are not afraid because of the experience they had but because of what they have heard but not verified. Fears are not always realistic but they are enough to stop you from doing something that you desire.
There is need to distinguish good fear from bad fear. Good fear can simply be synonymous with putting one’s finger in fire.
It will burn therefore you must fear this threat.

Bad fear is simply false things/evidence appearing real.
Fear is what makes risk taking interesting. Fear causes the adrenalin to pump.

However, bad fear stops employees from achieving. One way of reducing the fear is by communicating adequately about the task at hand.
Most companies fail in their new ventures because they prepare for one aspect instead of the six aspects identified.

Companies that prepare for the six aspects have higher success rates and less likelihood of being unsuccessful during implementation of their projects.
All successful bass fishermen have perfected the art of meticulous preparation.

This involves all aspects of physical preparation, mental planning, spiritual preparing and psyching up. Catching fish as a goal is clearer and enables preparation to be relatively easier if a person has fished before. Preparation is easier for repeat activities and harder for new ones.

Preparation is harder if it is based on achieving goals that are not clear. This implies that it is relatively easier if it is based on clearly articulated desired destination for the future.
Preparation enables success. If the fisherman’s preparation coincides with the needs and wants of fish, then can we say the fisherman is lucky when he catches a lot of fish.

I have no doubt that many of us want to be lucky.
If that is the case, what are you doing as individuals or groups of employees/managers to create that luck? Preparation creates luck.

Start now and I can assure you that you are going to be VERY LUCKY.