Kay:

Well, hello our fabulous Questers, welcome back. It is Monday, August 23rd, and this is episode 426. We have a quote for you today that was submitted by a fellow Quester, Miss Lisa Slack. This quote is given to us from John Wooden, who is a legendary basketball coach, mostly known for helping to carry the UCLA Bruins to championship after championship and is a dear mentor of our mentor. Mr. John Maxwell. John Wooden tells us, “When opportunity comes it’s too late to prepare.”

Shi:

This is like some of that just classic old school, feels like teacher advice and that’s exactly what John Wooden was for so many people. He was a beloved coach, teacher, mentor, thinking partner, and friend to so many and his legacy lives on in some really incredible people and in some really incredible ways. But I think his philosophy is really well summed up here because he really was methodical in terms of preparation but not necessarily preparation in terms of your physical skills, but your teamwork skills, your resiliency skills, your emotional skills, you know, those life skills that actually make the difference.

Kay:

Those kinds of skills, if you aren’t good about preparing yourself and strengthening them ahead of time, when that opportunity does come, when he’s saying it’s too late to prepare, it means that you’re not ready for it. So, when your opportunity comes, you’re not ready, and what happens when you’re not ready for an opportunity? Well, oftentimes the opportunity gets fumbled. If you attempt to go for it, and then you end up making a fool out of yourself or the opportunity passes you by altogether.

Shi:

Hopefully, you’re like us and this has happened to you and you’ve been able to, even though you stumbled and fumbled, you kept your hands on that ball and you ran it across the line and when you look back, you can say, wow, if I would have been a little bit more prepared, that run would have gone a lot easier, but you still managed to get it. Sometimes you see the ball go sailing over your head and you’re not there in time, you’re not prepared and there is no catching, there is no stumble, it’s just missed. That’s what John is illustrating here that we have to be doing that prep work, those boring daily routines. What a great way to start off our Monday. If we really want to make the difference in our lives and if we really want to be ready when the opportunity comes, it means preparation pretty long in advance.

Kay:

You know preparation is one of those things that help people, high-performers in particular so much that many high-performance business people and athletes will find ways to prepare their life permanently by doing things like only wearing the same outfit all of the time, or by having the same work schedule, no matter where they’re traveling or having two hours a day that are there for their prep for the next day, having routines that set them up to sleep well and to wake up well and to be prepared for the day ahead. So, high achievers know this quote, I think better than anyone and we might be able to take a page out of their book.

Shi:

And that’s a good point to make. If we think about this in play, we’re restaurant owners so thinking about a restaurant owner-type scenario that we’ve heard before. Someone in a peer group or a circle or in a network will say, I really want to open a restaurant and I have this great concept for a restaurant. Maybe as you see this person over the years, they continue to mention the concept and the general desire and then this person might get offered an opportunity like this business, it’s going out of business and the owner has offered me this inside deal to take over and do the restaurant. But oftentimes that person flounders or fails, or really struggles because they haven’t been doing, in the years of saying “I want to have a restaurant”, the prep work that would be needed in order to be ready for an opportunity like that. You can try and learn restaurants on the ground and take the crash course and maybe survive, but it would sure be a lot easier and set you more up for success if that person had been doing the prep work all along the way.

Kay:

Look, I’ve got a quick personal example here and I’ll be fast about it. But when I was in high school, my very first audition for the musical that we were doing that year “Hello Dolly” I relied on my talent over my preparation and thought that I had my rehearsal piece down easily enough and my piece to go in and audition but it turned out that when I got into the, uh, into the auditorium, that yes, I knew my audition piece very well, but I didn’t know it well enough to perform it under pressure. So, I buckled under the pressure. I did not do a great job and I ended myself up in the chorus for that particular opportunity. So, I did not prepare, and the opportunity did not come my way.

Shi:

Well, you would have been an excellent Dolly.

Kay:

Thank you.

Shi:

All right, guys, to remind you what John Wooden says, “When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare.” And that brings us to our quest today. It is a Preparation Quest here on Monday fun day, run day, get it done day. We want you to devote 10 minutes of your time and intention to preparation. Empower yourself with the comfort of knowing everything you need will be in order when that opportunity comes. Are you ready? Prep it with us now.

Kay & Shi:

Let’s quest!