Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

I had a professor emphasize the need for preparation when starting something that you do not feel comfortable with. He used to say “prepare, prepare, prepare” and it’s something I think I will always remember! I think he was on to something because I find when I lack preparation in my life is when things fall apart the most. Preparation takes discipline along with critical thought to be forward thinking as to what is going to happen next. For my next few learning project posts I am going to try and prepare myself for the final product I want to make. I know I said filet mignon was going to be my end goal but due to budget restraints I have settled for making a Portuguese style oven roasted chicken. My preparation on this final stretch will be learning knife skills as I will have to spatchcock the chicken to take the bones out of it. I will prepare by researching cross contamination, and kitchen cleanliness because I will be working with raw chicken and don’t want to contaminate other items in my kitchen or put my family at risk of salmonella. I will prepare by learning how to marinate meat to enhance flavour. Lastly I will prepare by looking into how to plate my meal in an aesthetically pleasing way. I think by doing this it will combine the skills I learned previously along with the necessary preparation I need to execute making this dish the best I possibly can.

To wrap up this post I am including 2 different videos that represent being prepared and being under prepared.

The first one is a TedTalk on being prepared:

The speaker of this Ted Talk spoke about being prepared for the “what if’s” in life. It is more challenging to prepare for circumstances in life when you are in a panic, so it is a good idea to think about all of the things that could happen in life to make sure that you are ready for them. Things happen in our life that are completely out of our control- the speaker talked about the challenges she had in first being the primary caregiver to her father, then both of her parents, to just her mom after her dad passed away shortly after. She felt that because she was prepared she was able to handle these life circumstances that were out of her control. It is a good message with practical teacher application as there is a large need to prepare for lessons, and unexpected things that could happen in the classroom.

This other video is meant to balance out the other video as it had some weight to it with the illnesses of her parents and death of her father. It is hard to think about the reality of our parents getting older and falling ill. This video shows preparation and being unprepared in a different way.

The friends were prepared as they helped out their buddy land a job where there were many candidates. They came up with a plan that scared all of the other candidates away by making it seem like the hiring person was very violent. This gave opportunity for the friend to be the only one available for the interview which got him the job. The other job candidates weren’t prepared for what was going to take place and ultimately lost their opportunity to get the job they wanted. It’s a neat idea but highly unrealistic for this to happen and work.