Category: Be Prepared

Are You Ready

Work doesn’t magically get done by elves in the middle of the night. It is hard-fought toil that puts the correct items in the right places. Thus, you string each of many parts together and make something that others deem worth having.

When done right, everyone wants to know what the trick is. Although most won’t believe you, the trick is simple. Don’t give up.

It is your voice, your mind, and your hands at work. What you put out for others to see, view, and use. It’s nothing less than a part of you. When you put yourself out there, let it shine.

What are you doing to be ready for such a quest?

Are You Prepared

The question should not be, “What do others do if something happens?“

Sooner or later, most things happen. The water heater springs a leak, someone breaks something and needs a ride to the hospital, or a violent storm comes along and blows the wind vent off the roof.

We think of things that happen to other people, and we tend to play down what may happen to ourselves. Many people refuse to consider possibilities and examine ideas for fear that something might come true.

I believe it’s better to live with a bit of caution as to what might happen and be prepared should it come true.

What are you prepared to do if unfortunate events happen in your life?

Time To Work

There are two types of work that happens. For some folks, it is the work they get paid for, the work to show off their talents, or the work to win the prize. With each work style, there is a second type of work that makes everything so much easier to accomplish. I am talking about the prep work.

It is something I learned working with the Boy Scouts a long time ago. If you take time to prepare, the actual tasks go so much easier. Before we went to a scouting Jamboree or other significant events, we had a camp out a few weeks beforehand. The camp out was to train all the scouts on the various skills they would have to demonstrate during the Jamboree games.

Teaching the scouts beforehand helped them feel less pressure and show better results during the skills portion of the larger camp-out. I still use this type of work ethic today. I take time to study various protocols or practice different techniques before using them with clients.

I find that preparation cycles, properly used, make me and my clients feel more comfortable during training and sessions.

Do you do any review or practice before facing your public?

Be Ready

Life is going to throw some good things your way. Unfortunately, you are also going to have some undesired items thrown your way too. You are, though, going to need to know what you really want out of life, so you can react in the right direction towards both the good and the bad.

You are going to need to know what your plans are so that you can react expeditiously. Life will not stick around and wait for you to make a decision. Time is moving forward no matter what you do, and you should be able to react in your best interests. So, the next question I’m sure you’re asking is, “How do I do this?”

You do your best at any point in your life. Know yourself. Know what you like, what you do not, and why.  Know what you have a passion for and what it would take to be good at it.  Good enough to make a living and enjoy the work.  The world will not take time for anyone who is ‘hemming and hawing.’  You need to get out there and do the job.

You can start at any time.  Sherly Temple was an actress as a tot and an ambassador in her latter years.  Grandma Moses was not even discovered for her paintings until she was in her sixties.  Betty White is in her nineties and still going strong.  Their Secret? They did not go home and just sit on the front porch.  They got and stayed active.

If you have given up, you still have two choices you can make right now.  You need to get active, or you need to plan what others might do if you are not around.  At least, that is what the statistics say.  Wonder why women live longer? More action and work in their lives overall.

Not sure where to start?  Talk to a life coach.  Find one you like and will work with you, asking the questions that make you think.  Life coaches do not have you dwelling on your past or crying over what could have been.  They work with you to understand where you are and what you could do if you wanted to. 

Life coaches help you understand that limiting beliefs are usually only in your head. You can really do anything you want if you are willing to put the work into getting the results you want. A life coach cannot do it for you, yet, they can be a guide that helps you to get rid of the negatives that stand in your way and help you to reach out to the goals you really desire.

Thank you for being with me today.  I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Are You Prepared?

I was fortunate enough to be a scout when I was young and a scout leader as an adult. I like the Boy Scouts, and I think that they do a good job for kids. They give kids good skills and an ethical compass to follow as they grow to adulthood. I am humbled to say that I earned my rank of Eagle Scout while living in Puerto Rico where my dad was stationed with the Army.

Learning in the scouts was very interesting, and I still try to follow the motto of being prepared. Of course, they never told us what to be prepared to do. Yet it was our motto, ‘Be Prepared.’ I always took this to mean keeping your eyes open and stay light on your feet.

We do not know everything that could come our way, and it is always good to have a plan A, B, or C. It is also useful to understand the things that you would or could do, and those things that you would not or could not do. Having this figured out in advance gives you a framework of what might work best for you.

The world is a very iffy place. This often makes being prepared a guessing game. If you live in the north, you don’t have to prepare for a hurricane, unless you live along the coast, in a place like New Jersey or New York City. You don’t have to be prepared to find bears inside a pizzeria unless you live somewhere like Colorado Springs. And, you do not have to fear attacks from seals, unless you’re a young person sitting on a pier. After looking at some of these things, being prepared sounds like a good thing to consider.

I’m not talking about running to your bunker for safety or hiding under a rock based on what might happen. I am talking about understanding options, a thoughtful response, and a quick personal check to see if you really want to be in a particular situation or not. Often, a minimum of pre-thought can save a lot of ‘I wish I had.’

I hope this is something that may help you. Just remember, it came from a very old Eagle Scout (who once used to be a mean old master Sergeant.)

Thank you for being with me today. I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Got A Plan?

No matter how well we plan and how secure we think we are we never really know if the good times will last or not. We have great government jobs, and the government shuts down. We save and invest what we earn in great wealth, and the market turns on us, or technology makes our investments fruitless. Sometimes we just cannot count on getting a break.

If you can see yourself as someone who has these worries, do not despair. There is no easy Street, for even those who we think live on easy street often have stresses and heartaches that would break the average person. What you do have and can become more aware of in your life is your great ability for resilience.

Resilience is a great thing. Think of resilience like the old Timex™ watch commercial, it means that you can take a licking and keep on ticking. It says that no matter what is thrown in front of you, you’ve developed a plan of action to get you where you want to go.  You have made contingency plans that if something happens, you have a workaround or a what to do next.  You are on top of it.  Do you have those plans?

You may not get to your final goal, however. If you don’t hit it, you’ll probably come close. That’s what insightful planning does. And if you do not get to where you want to be, at least you have a plan not to get to where you would hate to be. You know how to be resourceful, and you know how to be committed. Are your plans in place?

Have you considered weather, government, and global financial tragedies and set contingency plans accordingly?

So, I have to ask you, of what you have read so far, is this who you are or who you would like to be? Although most of us are aware of many of these problems and the fact that there’s going to be good and bad in all of our lives. We plan more seriously for where we want to go and much less for what could happen along the way. I don’t wish bad for anybody, yet I sincerely hope we all at least have some ideas of the what ifs.

If you are interested in information on planning for your future growth, please send me a quick reply. I will send you some info.

Thanks for being with me today.  I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

Prepare in moderation

We had a beautiful snowfall last night. It clung to the yard and even to the street. We knew what was coming, we just did not know how much snow we would get. Sometimes life is like that. We know something is happening, we just don’t have knowledge of how intense it may be or how much it will affect us.

The trick in dealing with the question of amounts is not to get carried away. Being prepared is always good. Just don’t plan or spend for something that would cause pain if it did not happen. Think of it as a measured response in everything.

 

It is easy to get carried away. I remember the first year I was in Alaska with the Air Force. We had significant snow early in September, and I went downtown and had studded snow tires put on my truck. What I did not understand, because it was my first year in Alaska, was that the snow would melt right away, and we did not get another heavy snow until late October. So, I had spent money on snow tires that just weren’t needed for another couple of months. I would be better off if I purchased the tires later when I really needed them.

I know we all take such actions, trying to stay ahead of the circumstances before us, and often spending to procure things we don’t need right away. I think that’s the way we are as a society. We are often looking forward and planning. Although it is good to look ahead and prepare, there are also some problems that can be caused in some related actions.

We need to be careful not to purchase too much, for it may not all be required. Even worse, we can buy things too early, and by the time we need them, we cannot remember where we stored them. Then we have to go out and spend more money to purchase them again.

The trick is to find moderation in preparedness. We have the things that we usually use, and maybe a few items for just in case. We need to not go overboard one way or the other, and we should have a plan to know what’s where.

 Just by putting in a little bit of forethought, we could spend less, enjoy things more, and have some real preparation of what may come, without spending too much.

Just one mean old master sergeant’s thoughts.

Thank you for being with me today.  I hope to be with you again tomorrow.

What’s your story?

Do you know your own story? Most of us can remember some of the critical points. You need to be able to talk sensibly about the important who, what, where and when. Can you give someone your story in about 90 seconds?

I thought I could until the one day a new college president found out that I was finishing a Masters degree in adult education. He looked at me and said, “Tell me your story?” I’ve done a lot with my life. But at that point, with the question coming out of the blue, I found it hard to tell him something that made sense.

I’ve had an exciting life, I was an Eagle Scout, I was in the Air Force for almost 22 years where I worked on five of the seven continents. I built computers for Apple. I have taught people how to use computers, how to find jobs, and how to write resumes.

I was a process engineer who designed the assembly lines, and the process is to build the computers. I have tracked satellites, modified satellite ground stations and worked in research and development. I have an Associate in Applied Science in Electronic Systems Technology, a Bachelor of Science in Business Management, and finally a Master of Arts in Adult Education and Training. Getting caught flat-footed, how could I put everything understandably in 90 seconds or less?

The trick is to actually think about it and practice beforehand. If I’m going to talk to the head of a technical college, I may need to emphasize different points than I would if I had to speak to a manufacturing vice president. It is not that I’m hiding anything, or over exaggerating certain aspects, I just need to talk to what they’re interested in when they ask.

Getting caught flat-footed was my own fault. We never know when an important question will come or what setting it will be. If we think about the questions that could be asked, by whom and where then we can be prepared. Running over them in our mind from time to time, just to keep them fresh is good. Taking 10 minutes a week to practice it a couple of times is even better.

There is a saying I hear a lot that talks about people not caring what you know until they know how you care. Sometimes you will never even know that people are watching you as you do something good for someone else. They see that you care and want to know more about you. Most life-changing moments are serendipitous and come out of the blue. You may not know when they’re coming, yet we can fall back on our scout training.

Be Prepared!

%d bloggers like this: