Do you lack preparation and simply wait for something to happen before you take action?

Are you paralyzed when you are faced with an unexpected situation?

Do you have a plan B just in case your plan A fails?

Think about a situation you experienced that had an unexpected outcome where a lack of preparation stopped you in your tracks.

This quote is an important one because I think it is something often overlooked by many people, including myself. I mean, how often do we prepare for the worst prior to the worst actually happening?

Would you agree that the majority of us tend to wait for that worst-case scenario to happen before we try to come up with a solution?

Preparation in even the smallest instances is important.

Case in point, I was getting ready to head to the gym one morning when my car key was nowhere in sight. Now when I say car key, I’m talking about those key fob things that also controls the car alarm and needs to be within one to two feet or your car before starting it. I bet it could probably control a NASA satellite too, if programmed with the right codes.

I looked in every conceivable place I could think of. They were still nowhere in sight. Also, along with that key fob, was my house key.

I began retracing my steps and remembered the last time I had them was the day before. They were with me when I was digging my car out of a good ten to eleven inches of snow the northeast received the day prior.

Could I have dropped my keys outside in the snow and not realized it?  Now, by this point, the plow trucks have already come through a handful of times.

Did someone find them laying on the ground and now has access to both my car and my house? My car was still there so at least I knew no one decided to take it for a joy ride… yet.

Panic mode started to kick in. I never expected to ever lose my car or house keys. I certainly had not prepared for it either. Picture the thoughts that might be running through your head if you were in that situation.

I immediately went outside and began scouring the ground, looking under and around my car, as if I was digging for gold. I ran back inside and yanked open one of my kitchen drawers looking for both my spare key fob and house key I knew I had stashed somewhere.

After finally finding both, I did feel an ounce better but still was uncomfortable about losing my original set. I go out to my car to, at least, open the door, giving me some additional sense of relief but the key fob did not work.

Now, I start feeling anxiety trying to attack me from every angle.

After figuring out how to open the key fob correctly, without simply taking a hammer to it out of sheer frustration, I noticed it had one of those flat circular batteries that no one typically has laying around in their house.

Guess what? Unbelievably, I actually did have some! The question then became, “where did I hide them?”

After jumping around from room to room, I discovered a few in one of my guitar bags where I keep extra strings and guitar picks. Don’t ask me why they were in there because I have no idea.

Nonetheless, I popped that sucker in the key fob and, voila, it worked!

I finally manage to get to the gym after all of that because, of course, I did not want to miss my workout. However, I couldn’t focus while I was there because I was already thinking about what I needed to do later like, change my house locks, contact the car dealer about replacing my lost key fob, and if my current one needs to be re-programmed, etc.

The situation caught me off-guard because I had not prepared for something like that.

It had to happen in order for me to take action which, in turn, caused a quite a bit of anxiety,  stress, and frustration trying to cope with the unexpected situation.

If I were better prepared, I could have avoided a lot of that unhealthy anxiety and stress and I would have been in a much better place, mentally, to handle it.

Here is the best part…

I got home from the gym and found my original keys in a spare jacket that I had not worn at all that week.

Was the Universe trying to teach me a lesson? Was some higher power saying “Hey Anthony, don’t wait until the last minute to be backed up in a corner before you get your act together.”

I don’t know. Maybe.

If they were then I heard them loud and clear.

So, think about where you can spend maybe ten or fifteen minutes to do a little extra preparation in your life, no matter what it’s for.

Do you know where your car keys are?

Now it’s your turn.

How does this quote inspire you?

Tell me about an experience where being unprepared blindsided you like a ton of bricks leaving you dazed and confused as to what to do next.

How did you handle it?

How can you practice better preparation for next time?

Contact me or share your thoughts below in the Comments section.

Let’s get the discussion going.

Remember, you are not alone on this journey. Together we can become stronger individuals.

Educate. Engage. Evolve.