PRE-PARATION

WEEK OF 1/13/24

 

There are many lenses through which we can understand our human experience.  Some of these are in the fossil record, others are in written history, and others are through the myths and legends that are passed down through the ages.  But one that I particularly find useful is in the words we use, and the etymology of those words (that is, the history of their use through time).  

We casually speak words that are often loaded with history or meaning.  And it’s through understanding the historical as well as literal aspects of these words that we can better understand their meaning, their use, and their implications.  This knowledge often can guide us towards better perspectives that can help to improve our outcomes.

The fighting world alone is loaded with incredible words and turns of phrase.  And many of these bleed into day-to-day parlance.

“You gotta roll with the punches.”

“He really took it on the chin there.”

“She’s against the ropes.”

“He really took a jab at you.”

And on and on.

Today we’re going to look at the word preparation.

I think we can all agree that we know what this word means, right?  To be ready and able for whatever task is at hand.  But let’s break the word down.  The prefix pre- means “before” (interestingly the word prefix means to fix or fasten in front of something, as in a christmas wreath on your Cadillac’s grille – to fix in front, so there you go).

Pare is a shaving or trimming down, often used in culinary or organizational terms.  You would pare down root vegetables (peeling and chopping) ahead of boiling them for mashed potatoes, for example.

To pre-pare is basically to get all that ahead of time stuff done so that when it comes time to cook, you are not behind the clock chopping onions, peeling potatoes, and trimming fat.

As martial artists, our preparation is not unlike cooking.  We have our own potatoes to peel, our own onions to chop, and our own fat to trim (both literally and figuratively!).  This work can often be boring, monotonous, and uninspiring.  But the pre-paration is what allows the cooking to go seamlessly and the fight performances to showcase your true spirit and skillset.

Being a great fighter is not only about being a great performer, although that is a huge part of it; it’s largely about being a great preparer.  Someone who walks into any challenging situation with all their tools sharpened, all their ingredients measured and partitioned, and their recipe books open to the right pages.

Point blank, it is impossible to be successful without preparation.  It’s a mandatory element of any successful venture.  If you want to win, if you want to perform well, you absolutely must prepare.  And with that said, the key to success is often just finding ways to love the preparation.  

Once you accept and embrace the boring, hard work, everything else becomes much easier.