Being Ready

“If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now,
yet it will come. The readiness is all.” –Hamlet

“So much of life isn’t about intelligence or luck but putting yourself in a position for success. The cash-rich investor thrives in crashes. The well-rested athlete outperforms the exhausted star. The student who studies daily aces the pop quiz. The employee who leaves early gets to the meeting with the CEO on time while the other person sits in the unanticipated traffic. All seem lucky, but they’ve positioned themselves to succeed. Master your circumstances before they master you.” -Shane Parrish

“It is good to carry some powdered rouge in one’s sleeve. It may happen that when one is sobering up or waking from sleep, a samurai’s complexion may be poor. At such a time it is good to take out and apply some powdered rouge.” -excerpt from Hagakure: The Book Of The Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (translated by William Scott Wilson)

“Being unexpected adds to the weight of a disaster, and being a surprise has never failed to increase a person’s pain. For that reason, nothing should ever be unexpected by us. Our minds should be sent out in advance to all things and we shouldn’t just consider the normal course of things, but what could actually happen. For is there anything in life that Fortune won’t knock off its high horse if it pleases her?” -Seneca, Moral Letters

“The story of spontaneity can be misleading. We don’t see all the practice and preparation that goes into priming an artist for the spontaneous event to come through. Every work contains a lifetime of experience. Great artists often labor to make their work appear effortless. Sometimes they might spend years meticulously crafting and refining a composition to appear as if it was made in a day or in a moment.” –The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin

You can’t control when or whether you even get the gig.

You can control doing everything in your power so that you’re ready for the gig.

The readiness is all.