I still remember the day my professor told me:
“Don’t fail because you didn’t prepare. Remember the Five P’s.”
I was job hunting at the end of my college years and the stakes were high. I was either going to be gainfully employed or leave college without anything but a piece of paper to show.
The Five P’s
Not being prepared is what stops us from bringing our best.
Proper preparation prevents poor performance.
We fail most times not because we’re not talented or smart enough, but because we fail to properly prepare.
You can fail because your competition was better than you or your abilities weren’t ready for the challenge yet. But don’t fail because you didn’t put in the effort and prepare as best as possible.
If it’s something important to you and you truly care about, not putting in the effort to make sure you do everything possible to nail it leads to regret. The time and effort that you spend upfront will be gained back tenfold.
Even if you do fail, you will still feel a sense of satisfaction because you did everything you could, and there is always a next time when you will succeed.
Preparation is needed to perform your best in any area of your life that’s important to you: your personal finances, work, health, and relationships. When something unexpected comes up, you know you can quickly pivot and get back on track. Being prepared builds confidence, and confidence leads to bold actions, increasing your probability of success.
Learning From The Past
I’ll be honest, I didn’t follow the “Five P’s” early in my life.
I spent a lot of years just “winging” it and relied on what came naturally to me, hoping that I would do good enough.
While most things in life were fine just being “good enough,” with hindsight I could have done better on some important things by being more prepared.
Here are some results of my lack of preparedness:
- I was a decent student in college but didn’t get the best grades because I was not prepared for the shift to grading on a curve
- I was a decent athlete but didn’t excel in any specific sport because I was not prepared to put in the practice up front
- I landed a decent job but didn’t receive the offers I really wanted at the time because I was not prepared to sell myself during the interview
- I was a decent employee but didn’t receive recognition for my work because I was not prepared to play politics.
I don’t think I came close at all to reaching my potential for many things in the past. That’s okay.
Fortunately, the words of my personal finance professor stuck with me to this day.
I’ve grown to realize that if I want to achieve my full potential for the things that are important to me, I need to be prepared for any possibility.
Sure it takes discipline and effort to prepare. But by doing so, you are paying yourself first and that extra effort will truly stand out over time for the person that matters most, YOU.
So if you want to nail the important things in your life, remember the Five P’s, get started ASAP, and keep work towards them!
It’s as simple as that.