Perfect Prep
When I measure, I perfect the way I prepare.
The prickles of preparation are not always comfy, but when my prep is perfect, my finished product can emerge in the right way. Preparing with the proper intent makes all the difference. Below, we will take a novel perspective on preparation.
All of me.
Putting in your all to whatever it is you’re doing — and I do mean whatever it is you’re doing — is the ground zero. It doesn’t matter where you live or who you are. It also doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, or whether you’re packing bags at a supermarket, waiting tables or a sophisticated university professor. Perfect-prep is not something the other guy does. It’s for me and it’s for you. Here, today, now, in even the most mundane of activities the perfect-prep is the underlying thread connecting the me today (where I’m at here and now) with the me tomorrow (where I’m headed).
Infusing each action (especially mundane actions), each moment (here and now) with an intentional spirit of preparation, well — that’s the perfect-prep. Perfectly packing a bag, perfectly bussing a table, perfectly communicating with your students, teachers and parents. Perfect prep.
Measure.
When we measure, we express the extent to which our ideas are successfully manifest in our actions. Measurement is the intersection between idea and action. It’s an adhesive that sticks the perfect onto the prep. Without measurement, things fall apart.
An example. If I have three customers, no revenue and I made two new features this month it may not seem worthy of measurement. In fact, if I wasn’t conscious of perfect-prep, I probably wouldn’t be motivated to measure at all. That is only because at this moment, I can’t see how in the world my measurements matter. But I do measure, and I put in my all. I even chart what I can and share it with others. I measure my insignificant data points as I would the bustling data of a serious business. Perfect prep.
You don’t need a goal for that.
When you’re able to measure (thereby express) something, you’re able to better understand it. This is different to conventional measurement against goals or milestones. My measurements don’t care about the future. They don’t care about goals or milestones. They only care about now, here. My measurements need exactly what I have, here and now, and nothing more. If I orient my measurements to where I’m at, and not where I think I should be, I can unlock the perfect prep and allow my goal to emerge. Try it.
Summary:
When we invest fully in where we’re at, even if it seems far from where we want to be, we’re perfecting our preparation. Preparing perfectly includes measurement, which makes it easier to perceive how our ideas are manifest in our actions.
