Chance favors the prepared mind.
Robert Solomon
Consultant, coach, and workshop leader, author of the widely read and respected book, "The Art of Client Service," expert in achieving behavior change with advertising/marketing/PR agencies, clients, and individuals.
These words are not mine.? They could have come from my attorney friend Alan Goldstein, prepping for an upcoming case. Or from another friend, musician Shane Soldinger, as he rehearsed for a gig.? Or maybe from the actor Jake Gyllenhaal, who, while being interviewed about the 2014 movie Nightcrawler explained something similar when he said,
“…freedom is on the other side of discipline; preparation is everything.”
As logical as any of these options are, the line came from none of them.? It is from the renowned 19th-century French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur, spoken part of a 1854 lecture emphasizing the importance of preparation and knowledge in making the most of unexpected opportunities.?
Speaking of making the most of opportunities, at the time I read this I was preparing for a workshop I’m about to lead. ?
At the start of our conversations, my client was conflicted about which of two sessions to pursue: ?1) the longstanding, proven Five Ways to Build Trust with Clients and Colleagues, which picks up where my book, The Art of Client Service, leaves off; or, 2) the more recent Why Client Service is an Art, which I first delivered last year when I spoke in Bucharest at the International Advertising Association’s Annual Conference.?
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Both have their virtues; ultimately the client settled on the former.
I could have agreed; it would have required so little of my time to work with already prepared PowerPoint slides, requiring minimal modification.?? Easy.? Not my best effort.? Not necessarily right.?
Re-visiting both two presentations, wondering which would have greater appeal and be more effective, I asked myself an obvious, divide-the-baby question:? “I have more than enough time to present; why can’t I combine the two presentations into one, capitalizing on what is most helpful in each?”
I did just that, working my way through both, excising what was repetitive or unnecessary, saving what mattered, with the result being far better than I thought it could be, substantially improved compared with the two versions? preceding it.? To Pasteur’s point, the extra preparation will, I hope, pay off with better material, better delivered to those who will join me as participants on the video call.
Pasteur is a scientist, Allan a lawyer, Shane a songwriter/guitarist.? They have zero in common with what I do, but all of them, whether they acknowledge this or not, intuitively understand chance favors the prepared mind whenever a challenge is before them, be it an experiment, a piece of litigation, or a song performance.?
I just completed my work; now comes the hard part: ?rehearsal.? And maybe, just maybe, a chance to do well tomorrow.