Boastful Barney said, “You don’t need to prepare for a marathon. You just run it!” He boasted on his ability to run a marathon even without preparation. His friends could not believe. They warned him but his boastfulness was overwhelming.
That fateful day came and he was out to prove himself. Oh, he did! He was there. He ran. He finished the marathon. But the story did not end there.
Just a couple of hours after the run, he was glued on his seat. He cannot walk. Oh no, he cannot even stand. His exhausted legs cannot hold him anymore. He may have ran the marathon but he almost got paralyzed.
We can learn a lot from what this story of Boastful Barney. We are reminded of the importance of preparation – in anything that we do. It may be a marathon, mini-business (not monkey business), marriage, and many more. Preparation is necessary!
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure,” said Colin Powell. There you have it – preparation is one of the three.
A CPA-aspirant needs to prepare for the CPA Board Examinations by reviewing all the seven subjects covered therein. If he did not prepare, he must think twice if he plans to take the board next month. A job applicant needs to prepare for the interview even before he submits his resume to his prospective employer. Whatever your goal is – may it be in the short term or long term – you need to prepare for it.
By next week, we will be conducting a ten-day training for the out-of-school youth of Cebu under Jobstart, a project by the DOLE in partnership with ADB and the Government of Canada. And if I want to conduct the training very well, I need to prepare for it. I need to reread the modules and prepare my presentation aids. There is no substitute for preparation.
This coming April 30, I will be representing my Division in Toastmasters for the District (national) Level of International Speech Contest. Oh boy, I will be competing with the champions from ten other Divisions. I heard that one of the contestants is a previous national champion, the other was once a runner up, and another has been in that stage for several times. But there is no excuse for me. I need to prepare for the contest. I have been preparing for it. And I continue preparing for it. With me is all my learning inside and outside of Toastmasters. I’m blessed to have been part of the organization since 2010, been delivering lots of speeches and been joining some contests, too. I rehearsed my speeches with some audiences and I hope to do more. Oh just this morning, I was practicing my speech while doing my laundry. On that day, I want to stand up there and deliver my message my passion and purpose. To be able to do it, I need to prepare for it.
Is there something you want to do, achieve or become? Are you preparing for it? How are you preparing for it?
Whatever kind of ‘marathon’ you want to run, don’t just run it. You better prepare for it. After all, you don’t want to be like Boastful Barney who just ran it but lost the essence of the process, the gift of preparation, and the prize that comes with it.
For sure, there is something you want to run for in life. So go for it. Prepare for it. And before you know it, you’ll have it.
(Chris Dao-anis/CPA, as an author and speaker, helps aspiring and young professionals become better communicators and leaders. His first book ‘The Gift of the Ordinary’ is available at Mt. Cloud Bookshop, Casa Vallejo, Upper Session Road, Baguio City and in Central Books in Cebu and Metro Manila. For seminars and resources, visit www.chrispoweracademy.com or email chrisdaoanis@ymail.com. Watch for his third book coming out soon.)
