Are You Prepared?

A lot of people say they want certain things. Are they prepared to get them?

That’s the question that separates the people who talk about it from the people who actually do it. Are you prepared? Are you doing the things and putting in the work to be ready when the moment comes? Because most people only see the team lifting the trophy, the driver winning the championship, the person walking across the stage to accept the promotion. They don’t see what came before.

There was a saying we had: the easiest thing you’re going to do in this whole process is lift the trophy up. That’s the easiest thing you’ll do the entire process. Because by the time you’re holding it, the hard part is already over. The preparation is what got you there. When the moment comes, it comes fast. It comes quick. And if you’re not prepared, it will pass right by you. From my experience, the moments often arrive in ways we can’t even fathom. They don’t always look the way we pictured them. So we have to be prepared in a lot of different ways, not just one.

For me, preparation meant working on my craft constantly. Knowing where I was going to get my shots within the team offense. Watching a huge amount of film on myself and on my opponents. Knowing what plays they’d run, where the opponent I was guarding wanted to get the ball, his strengths, his weaknesses, the things he had been successful with before, and how I could mitigate it. That was preparation. Not just being in shape physically, which is super important, but being in shape mentally as well. Going into stressful situations with a clear head, because we trained for that too. That’s why I meditated. That’s why I practiced visualization and still doing it to this day. I was preparing every part of myslef for moments that hadn’t happened yet.

People only want to show the great moments. They don’t show the hours and hours and days and years of preparation that go into them. A softball pitcher has to practice, study her opponent, do her work in school, listen to her coach, prepare her body, eat the vegetables, eat the carbs, eat the protein and know her pitches inside and out. Preparation isn’t something that happens the day before the game. Preparation is a lifetime of things.

I tried to prepare myself by working out, staying in shape, watching a ton of film, working on my weaknesses, taking accountability for the things I had messed up on, and strengthening the parts of my game that needed it. There are so many ways to prepare yourself. Preparation is one inch wide and a mile deep. The deeper you go, the more there is.

Whatever it is you’re chasing, prepare yourself. If you’re training for a marathon, you have to eat right, you have to train, you can’t take too many days off. You have to prepare. If you’re trying to get a promotion, you have to do the work before the opportunity even shows up. If you’re trying to build something new, you have to put in the hours when nobody is watching.

Because here’s the truth: when it’s live, there’s no faking it. You can tell the people who have prepared and the people who haven’t. The work shows. So does the lack of it. So please, prepare yourself. Whatever it takes for you to be ready, find out what that looks like and do it.

Remember, the easiest thing you’ll do is lift the trophy. Everything before it is the real work. So I’ll ask you this question. Are you prepared? If not, start the process of getting prepared today!