Preparation and Focus

First of all, allow me to apologize for the lack of posts. I could say something here about being too busy to write anything, but I don't feel that's a valid excuse. I made a committment to maintain this blog, and I need to follow through on that committment even when I have other things going on in my life. I apologize, and I will endeavor to prevent lapses like this again in the future.

This leads me into my topic for this post. I've had a lot of thought about preparation and focus these past two weeks. They are both quite important to completing the goals that we set for ourselves. As I have many goals this year, I need to make sure I have the proper preparation and focus in order to be able to achieve them.

To have the best results, we have to make sure we are well prepared. A favorite quote of mine is "Proper planning prevents poor performance." I am the kind of person that likes to plan things out well ahead of time. This allows me to be more efficient. For example, I am in the process of writing a novel, but I have to make sure I have prepared the back story well enough to make the writing process easier.

Focus is just important, however. All the preparation in the world will not help if you cannot focus on the task at hand when it is time. You have to take the time to accomplish the goals you set forth and not become distracted by the outside world. When you lose focus, then tasks can be abandoned and never completed. This has been my experience in the past, and it is something I am trying to avoid moving forward.

I've two separate experiences in the last couple of weeks that have really solidified these ideas for me. The first experience was at a Magic tournament I attended February 7-8. This was the biggest tournament I've attended so far this year, and I have been looking forward to it for a few weeks.

I had moderate success in the event, but certainly not the level I have come to expect from myself. I played a deck that was very familiar to me, and I felt pretty good about my chances. However, a new set had just recently been released which changed some of the decks other players were playing. I did not take the time to adequately prepare for the new cards I would be playing against.

I might have been able to make different choices that would have allowed me to perform better, had I done the necessary preparation. I had alot of success last year playing Magic, and I let part of that go to my head. I allowed myself to believe that I didn't need to prepare as much. This turned out to be a mistake. I have since deflated my ego a bit and I'm currently preparing for another tournament that I will be attending at the first of March.

I learned my lesson in focus in the last couple of weeks in regard to my fitness goals. I have made the necessary preparations to be able to achieve my fitness goals, including buying better foods to eat and purchasing exercise equipment. Unfortunately, I have not focused on meeting this goal as well as I should. Between the Magic tournament I attended and a week of training at my job, I lost focus and let my willpower slip.

I did not focus on eating healthy and indulged in several meals that were quite delicious, but not altogether good for me. I have also not been using the equipment I purchased as much as I should be and that has shown. I have sadly undid all of the work I had made in losing weight, bringing me back to the weight I was at before starting this blog.

This really hit me hard when I stood on the scale and saw the numbers. I'm determined to meet my fitness goal possibly more than any other goal I have this year, but I am not really succeeding at this point. I know I have the ability to complete it, I just have to focus harder on completing it.

I also have to focus more on making sure I keep this blog up to date. I have enjoyed writing it, and I feel that is really beneficial for me. Just posting this has already helped keep me accountable for my goals. Once again I apologize for not keeping it on the schedule I set out, but I will endeavor to do better going forward.

-Eddie