“If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”
This quote has been spread around in numerous locations, and is worth taking a closer look at. When you fail to prepare, you are looking to take from the system, as opposed to giving in to it. You go into a presentation with the idea that you can put less effort out and get adequate results anyway. A person that doesn’t prepare should fail, if the system he is dealing with has integrity. This also reminds us that the majority of a presentation has already been set up before it occurs. In relation to my post that said most items around us are heavily engineered, the presentations and products we see before us are the culmination of hundreds or thousands of hours of effort. This is good news for active and productive individuals, but is not appealing to indolent individuals that want to get the same results.
The viewpoint to take from this quote is that your mind should be clear when it is time to present. There shouldn’t be an item you are looking to finish during a presentation or product release, because your audience will end up directly taking notice of it. We tend to focus on things that seem out of place, so if you have 10% of your product looking unfinished, the audience will assume the project is not going smoothly. When you prepare by going overboard, it is very unlikely that your product or presentation will come out looking rushed, because people will be processing that you did more than the minimum throughout the process.
“If I can picture that, I’ll bring a picture back.”
This quote is powerful in the sense that it empowers its reader. If you can envision something, like a goal of yours coming to fruition, you can get to the point where you can take a picture of your victory moment. It might take months to get to the point of interest, but it is worth it when the real-time image is formed. This quote gives energy to the reader of it because it provides your mind with the sense that a key step on the way is getting a mental taste of success with a focused imaging of the end-product.
This says quite a bit about the pictures and trophies we obtain. They are visual representations of that which we could only process mentally until they were acquired. The anguish that comes from the time and effort spent leading up to the end result is actually the relevant part, but the result at the end is needed in order to make it the relevant part. Without the final step acquired, all the rest of the work can feel like wasted time, instead of worthwhile pioneering.
This is a quote to bounce around in your thoughts, every so often, during your focused period of time, so that you can create a picture frame with your fingers that your mind can fill in with a tentative image of the end of that step.
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Interesting ideas you’ve presented here. I’ve actually never heard the second quote, but after explanation it’s got a pretty nifty idea. You should keep up the quote analysis posts, they’re really cool.
I know personally I like to daydream and envision situations to get a feel of how that moment might transpire. I’m generally wrong, but planning is important, haha.
Corey: Thank you for that. As added information, that second quote is from a song. I will keep your words in mind about the Quote Analysis concept.
That point about envisioning is one that I have seen presented in an abundance of places, and an numerous ways. You are on target about the importance of planning though, as you know.
Though I’m not familiar with either of these quotes, your excellent analysis of them is giving me plenty to marinate on for the next few hours.
I’m looking forward to more analysis in the future.
Philip: Thank you for these words of support. There may be more coming in the near future.