I stepped aboard the yacht, after a twelve hour night shift and a full days travel, and although I should have been dead on my feet, I was filled with palpable excitement. Looking out across the water as the waves dazzled in the sunlight, I felt the warm breeze on the German summer air, and watched the hot air balloons and yachts glide through the water with effortless ease, I couldn’t wait to get out there! Although that was back in 2012, I remember sitting on the deck soaking it all in vividly, thinking “Why have I never sailed before?”.

After everyone arrived on board, my skipper sat us all down for introductions and to my surprise announced we were going nowhere today let along tomorrow until at least lunchtime. We had work to do before we set sail. As a skipper myself I am now fully aware of the necessity for this. Aside from the health and safety aspects that needed to covered off we needed supplies, had to check the boat and train and establish where we were going everyday for the next 7 days!

No matter what we take on in life, there is always work to do before the dream is our reality. There is a much loved acronym in the world that taught me to sail and it is PPPPPPP or the 7 P’s: Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents P*** Poor Performance, however the clean version is Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Particularly Poor Performance. Not slipping on the day of our arrival was all about the 7P’s.

Sitting down to plan where we’re headed is much like goal setting, knowing where you want to be and when is imperative, if we are to develop a strategy to accomplish our desired outcomes, and so we set a waypoint. Many waypoints in actual fact, for now though, the final one was our focus as it influenced everything to come after knowing exactly where we wanted to be and when.

Victualing [food and supplies] is akin to the acquiring the skills, habits, tools and resources necessary to sustain momentum as we progress towards the goal. To prevent an unnecessary detour along the way, an assessment of where you are and what you have already, is so valuable and beneficial, I am certain you will never look back and think I wish I skipped this part.

Preparation is so multi-faceted, it has to be broken down into smaller tasks or else -overwhelm and disinterest become additional and unwelcome crew on board! James Clear [of Atomic Habits] said: ” Dream big, execute small”. I love that! Preparation is the system that prevents particularly poor performance.

Manageable tasks have so many benefits and I consider the most important one to be the environment it creates for success to occur.

• they are short and easily digestible,
• they provide a progress map,
• a sense of accomplishment during any learning phase,
• facilitate a growth mindset,
• improve time management,
• reduce stress,
• allow considered prioritisation, and,
• they remove the complexity of the execution, that can so often paralyse us [sometimes permanently].

7 days later that summer, I was well and truly hooked on sailing! My first formal qualification under my belt and an ambition to become a yachtmaster! Exploring the coastline of the Baltic Sea was filled with growth, adventure and arguably [at the time] the first soiree into education being fun, inspiring and left me wanting more. 4 Years later I became a Commercially Endorsed Yachtmaster Offshore, and am working my way up to Yachtmaster Ocean; the lessons I learned in that first 24 hours on board, is my system of implementation on and off the water to this day.

As I bid you fair winds for today, ask yourself:

• What is your current top goal?
• What skills, habits, tools, resources do you have and need to make it a reality?
• How can you execute small for success?

I welcome your insights and perspective(s), let me know in the comments, and, thanks for stopping by today!