“Be three before be four before be five!”
Early Childhood Aspirational Chant
It’s a universal law: Some things just have to happen BEFORE other things can happen. One can’t be ALL of FOUR until completing ALL of THREE.
Before a bird can become a bird, is has to become an EGG, it has to HATCH from the egg, it has to GROW wings strong enough to FLY, and it has to learn how to FEED itself. And before it can raise a family, it has to build a NEST.
PREPARATION and INVESTMENT make a huge difference … clearing a path … building a foundation … “getting one’s ducks in a row” … getting rid of the cobwebs … putting some real “equity” on the line …
INSTRUCTOR: “What is one thing you have learned in the college preparation process?”
STUDENT: “I’ve learned it’s best to complete important tasks WAY before the due date to avoid stressing myself out.” Brisa
BEFORE I go out, I’ve got to get my phone, keys, and wallet, double check my calendar and have a LIST … so I don’t wander all over Creation BEFORE tending all the stuff I’ve got to tend.
But AFTER is equally important: One can’t really be DONE until – i.e., BEFORE – the kitchen is cleaned up, the grant or contract has been submitted, the tools are put away, a key request has been sent on the wing, the “slow roast” is in the oven …
Personally, I make frequent use of BEFORE “resets” – off-line times to re-orient and get the first next action / project lined up. [NOTE: Many of my “resets” look a lot like “Naps” to the uninitiated – more so in retirement! But they’re “resets”, nonetheless.] Resets need to be accommodated with as little external input as possible … no cell phone, no scrolling on the internet, no “kibitzing” …
During my normal work life, when I had “writer’s block” writing grants and contracts, “White Papers” or reviews, I would frequently hike up and down four flights of stairs. By the time I got back to my desk, the “block” was cleared and ink went flying again.
When not direly pressed, one can also just “watch the daisies grow”. A lot of the very best stuff requires INCUBATION. Resets don’t have to be a BIG deal – just getting a fresh cup of coffee, going to the bathroom, clearing the work space, shoveling snow, brushing your teeth, watering the lawn …
Isaac Newton was just sitting under an apple tree when he formulated the concept of gravity.
Archimedes was just taking a bath when he discovered that “two bodies could not occupy the same space at the same time” and was inspired to develop the concept of volume and density. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/how-eureka-moments-science-happen/
DRIVING FORCES help. Things, preferably, need to be “Going Somewhere”, in either an intimate or ultimate sense – perhaps BOTH! This could come from a VISCERAL CURIOSITY, a compelling INVESTIGATIVE INCLINATION, or a compulsion to “Crack the Code” of being and doing and workings of life …
The key is to GET SOMETHING INCUBATING! It creates critical momentum.
Finally, doing a lot of “BEFORE” stuff BEFORE you even have a chance to “think about it” helps; I try to brush my teeth and shave in the morning BEFORE I “feel like it” or have to THINK about it.
BOTTOM LINE
“Majoring” in BEFORE stuff can advance one
unnumberable “degrees” forward
toward a magnificent AFTERGLOW.
Quartermaster
