Preparation or Bombing Irag

I don't know if it is being properly prepared or if it is preemptive, but I do know after the whole preemptive war on Iraq thing that preemptive carries a lot of baggage so we will just go with prepared.

Saddam in the good old days before the beards and spider holes

I am not very good at being a person.  I mean, it's hard to get stuff done, most days just fly past me and the simple stuff seems like the hardest.  Eating good food, going to bed before 2am, not hitting my kids to much (just kidding on the last one, only one of my kids is old enough to get hit and she gets hit just the right amount).

But that is when I realized it is not about doing the right thing, it's about the preparation.  I love Tim Ferriss and one of his main points throughout all three of his books is that environment means more than discipline.  I agree, but I still struggle getting the right environment together.  Then it struck me this morning, if done correctly you are doing everything in preparation and almost nothing when it comes due.

Let's take two examples, eating and raising your kids.

So when I get up in the morning I need to get some protein in my system within thirty minutes of waking up, but I'm not hungry.  What I've realized is, it doesn't matter if I'm not hungry, I'm not eating for right now but preparing for 10am when I haven't eaten, been up for a few hours and now am hungry.  Because then I still don't eat until lunch and at that point I'm all shaky and the only thing that will level out my system is some processed carbs, a lot of them, and now.

Or do you ever see parents of teenagers marvel at their one friend who has teenagers who behave themselves.  The common question I hear is "How do you make them listen?".  The truth is, I was once a teenager, you can't make them listen.  Teenagers are clinically stupid and somehow self aware of that fact and proud all at the same time.  

The way you get good teenagers is by creating a relationship with little kids who are pretty much just boring.  You play with a four year old for hours doing nothing.  You teach an eight year old how to play a sport even though they suck at it.  You talk to a ten year old about their feelings even though how they feel about another ten year is really trite.

I don't do any of this.  But I think I can do better when I realize that I don't need to do something right now, I can do something for the future, and the more I do in preparation the less discipline I need and the easier it will be that when the moment comes I don't have to be smart, I already was.  It also takes a lot of work up front, because for a little while you have to prepare for the future and put out the fires of not preparing in the past.  Just stay focused, do something small that makes your life better later right now, then again in a couple hours.  I believe in you/me.

Good talk, see you out there.