MARK NEPO-OUR WALK IN THE WORLD

In January, MARK NEPO will be teaching in person at the Kalamazoo Public Library and online with Alternatives of London. In February, Mark will be leading a mastery week at the Modern Elder Academy in Mexico and offering his latest online webinar. Please see marknepo.com and live. marknepo.com for details.

Ready, Set, Go 

I WANT TO EXPLORE the relationship between being prepared and being ready. Being prepared centers on thinking ahead and gathering the tools necessary to meet a situation. Being ready centers on the foundational ground we stand on and the clarity of view we meet a situation with. We often mistake being prepared for being ready, though the process of getting prepared can be the exercise by which we ready ourselves inwardly to meet any situation.

When Winston Churchill said, “planning is essential but plans are useless,” I think he was speaking to the difference between inward readiness and outward preparation. For the process of planning—of imagining different scenarios and what each possible venture might require—is more important in how it sharpens our perception and fortitude than any of the plans that we might conjure. For once in the moment, which can’t be foretold, any particular scenario can easily fall short of what will be required of us. Further, our insistence on what we have planned instead of meeting what is unforeseen can actually make matters worse.