What kind of preparation do you do for important moments in your life?
- Maybe you spent hundreds of hours, logging thousands of miles, preparing for a marathon.
- Maybe you prepared responses to exhaustive lists of interview questions to prepare for a job interview.
- Maybe you spent months agonizing over a guest list and table centerpieces and tens of thousands of dollars preparing for a wedding.
- Maybe you went to classes, read countless books, and packed and repacked your hospital bag to prepare for childbirth.
- Maybe you are saving for an entire lifetime to be ready for retirement.
But what about today? This exact moment? How much time did you spend preparing for right now?
Why Preparation is Important
One thing I have learned during this time of COVID is the importance of preparation. Of gearing up for each day. Not just showing up.
They say 80% of life is showing up. We spend lots of time talking about showing up.
But what about the other 20%? What if you dedicated that to preparing?
Lately, I have spent hours preparing for the day. I keep a gratitude journal. I exercise. I meditate. I use an acupuncture mat. I think carefully about what food I put into my body. I take vitamins. I read. And I visualize and plan for the day.
Sometimes, when I think about all I do as part of my morning routine, it seems excessive. Intense. Some might call it crazy.
But all of this work and all of this preparation is worth it.
Why?
It gives me the greatest ability to enjoy each day. It enables me to show up calm, present, thoughtful, engaged, with positive energy and presence. When I prepare properly, it allows me to bring my best self to the day.
Some days, before COVID, that didn’t matter so much. I could go sit at my desk and just give whatever energy I happened to have that day. If I was a little cranky or a little less productive on any given day, it didn’t matter.
But right now, during COVID, it matters so much. I have to be here for my colleagues, my team, my friends, my community, my kids, my spouse.
All of us are experiencing this. It. Is. A. Lot.
It would be easy to be overwhelmed. Spiraling into depths of depression or overthinking into heightened states of anxiety.
While these things still may occur with all that is going on in the world, consider taking the time to prepare for each day.
Bottom Line
Take the time you need to prepare for, and wind down from, each day. It may take you ten minutes. It may take you two hours.
But ask yourself: What do I need right now?
Make time to ask yourself this question. Listen to whatever the answer is. If it allows you to show up as your best self even for a few hours a day, it will be worth it.
