In this issue:
- Preparation time (for anything in life) isn't wasted time.
- "How (Not) To Be Secular " and other favorite books, movies, and podcasts our team is loving right now.
- Another FREE (and if we might say, AWESOME) template? Yes, please!
A few weekends ago, my husband and I decided to roll up our sleeves and plant winter grass in our front yard (hence the picture above 😅).
I’m the "ideas person" in our partnership. I’m the one who says, “Let’s do it! It’ll be amazing!” My husband, on the other hand, is the planner. He’s the one who researches, gathers tools, and watches countless YouTube tutorials to make sure we do it right.
While prepping the soil, I learned that prepping to plant grass (or to accomplish any ambitious professional or personal goal) is a serious business. Studies show that about 50-60% of the entire process is spent on preparation (making sure you have the right grass type, site preparation, ideal planting timing, seed distribution, watering techniques, weed control, fertilization, and ongoing maintenance).
If you’ve ever set a big goal or embarked on a major project, you know exactly what I mean—most of the time is spent preparing, training, and acquiring the necessary skills (or hiring people with the skills). The actual doing and result is the last 40%.
In sports, this is similar to pre-season training. It’s as critical as the game itself.
Take Coach Bud of the Phoenix Suns. During the off-season, he spent time building relationships with every single player on the team, from the big names like KD and Booker (while they were in France on their Olympics training), Jusuf Nurkic in Croatia., to the rookies who had just joined the roster. All that behind-the-scenes prep helped the Suns kick off the 2024 season stronger than we were expecting.
Isn’t it funny how we often overlook preparation? We get discouraged when we are in the “unseen” phase of hard work because it feels like nothing’s happening. But with the new year approaching, this is the perfect time to reflect on your goals and prepare to actually make them happen.
So, keep training for that marathon—even if you’ve been off track; crossing the line after 26 miles requires more hrs of training than the race itself.
Keep creating—even if no one seems to notice; you might just end up with your best piece yet.
Keep writing—even if you think no one’s reading; someone is waiting for your words.
Don’t wait until after the holidays to start working on that project; we cannot get back time.
The truth is that the grass is always greener where you water it.
Cheers,
Your friend Sarah at Showit
P.S. I'll report back on our front yard in our next newsletter :)