As a metaphor for the impact of preparation upon getting things done, I think of it like creating a fire. The preparation is the kindling, the carefully broken down, small pieces of dry wood that can catch fire once the spark of desire turned into intention catches it alight. Care must be taken to ensure that the initial pieces of wood used are capable of burning. It is almost impossible for a match to set fire to huge tree trunk and such an expectation will lead to failure. Care must also be taken to shield the fire against the wind of expectation that can blow out a fire immediately if those expectations are too strong. Instead of expectation a small draft of anticipation of a beneficial, but somewhat unknown, result allows the spark of intention to act upon the prepared flammable materials.

As the fire begins to burn the intention is transformed into capability as larger and large pieces of wood can be put upon the fire and the strength of the fire (in this case the process and the momentum of the process) can consume them. If the fire is not fed with more prepared wood then it will die down to a flicker and eventually extinguish. To light the fire again without prepared material will be to no avail. The kindling and the wood must be prepared once again otherwise the effort put into lighting the fire will be wasted and you will sit there feeling cold and miserable and wondering why you can’t get a decent fire lit. When it’s cold in the morning you don’t want to have to scratch around and find kindling and wood, damp from the dew. You will be grateful that you prepared more kindling and wood whilst you had the chance the day before and kept it dry and undercover ready to be lit at a moments notice.

It doesn’t matter how energized and motivated you feel to get started and do things. If you have no fuel prepared to burn in your burgeoning fire or you expect the impossible by hoping that a single match will set alight an entire tree then your energy and motivation will fizzle out. You might be left thinking, “Man, I’m terrible at starting a fire and keeping it burning.” whereas in actual fact your fire starting abilities and ability to keep it burning might be top notch. It could just be that your lack of preparation to support the fire once it’s underway is letting you down.

Frustration comes from wanting a result right now. It is upon this point that we judge ourselves and produce good or bad emotions as a result. The preparation to do something usually makes up a huge proportion of the effort needed to actually finish a task and deliver a result. We tend not to judge our results from our preparations towards that point of fulfillment. We can thus keep preparation as a ‘desire neutral’ activity and that allows us to get on with preparation without too much fuss and bother. We can adjust our attitude to accept the process of preparation as a necessary part of fulfilling a desire and we can defer judging results and generating emotions until we actually fulfill the task.

Without preparation we tend to launch ourselves into doing things only to come up against barriers to progress very quickly. As soon as we hit a point where we find in impossible to move forward we tend to get disappointed and look for easier means to provide instant gratification and good feelings. Preparation is the vital art of providing the raw material that can be worked upon by the processes and competencies that we have already developed.

Preparation is largely the process of breaking things down to a level so that nothing will be ‘impossible to do in the moment’ once you actually carry out all of the work that delivers the final result. Generally speaking you need to break down the furthest those things that you are highly unfamiliar with. These are the things that will give you the most trouble and hence are the biggest sources for procrastination. Key to that preparation is identifying in advance the likely points of difficulty that will bring action to a sudden stop. Through identifying them in advance we can attempt to solve or to circumvent the problem before we arrive at it.

For example, if one of your tasks is ‘Change the oil on the car’ and you are a car mechanic who does this day in and day out then that description on the list of things to do is enough. You don’t need any more detail because you know the full process for doing this and have the full competence for doing it. However, if you have never done this before then you will find many problems to deal with. You have to research the method, buy the tools and equipment, ask for advice, go through each step very slowly and carefully and so on. The level of preparation is dependent upon your familiarity and level of competence in performing the task.

Sometimes we must finish a frustratingly large amount of preparation before starting something but the reality is that the problem solving that occurs through the process of preparation is something that we will have to do anyway if we want to make progress. Adopting the practice of thorough preparation allows us to accept this reality and to deal with it in a sensible manner. If we don’t do it then we will come to a point where progress is impossible at that moment. This will lead to negative emotions and a desire to do something easier. This leads to procrastination and a delay in getting on with the problem solving and making further progress.

Acceptance of the need and of the benefit of carrying out thorough preparation has proven a key factor in increasing my own levels of personal productivity. The next time you feel frustrated in getting things done ask yourself whether it’s because you’re no good at making fires or whether it’s because this time around you didn’t prepare the fuel for the fire properly.

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[Picture: Chas Redmond]