LEADERSHIP CAPSULE
equipping leaders with skills, weapons and tools to provide effective leadership for nations to ultimately fulfill the Great Commission.

Saturday, 20th May, 2017

TITLE : The Leadership Lessons & Wisdom Principles From The Ants 6

#3 PREPARATION

"There be four things which are small upoun the earth, but they are exceedingly wise: The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer." — Proverbs 30:25

"Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them. - Ezekiel 38:7

“Chance favors the prepared mind."
-Louis Pasteur

I love the statement above by Pausteur. Do you agree with the great quote above? I definitely do. Instead of believing in pure luck, I believe that luck is what happens when opportunities come to those who are prepared (well trained, groomed, mature, equipped) for them.

We're still considering the subject of preparation as a major wisdom principle of the ants and I want to believe you found this piece thoughtful, helpful and inspiring. The ants prepare itself for the future. That's the point here!! Do you have any ready plans for the future?

Understanding the times and seasons is one of the key wisdom of the ants. The ants prepares itself during summer when it's supposed to enjoy, it sows seeds during the summer when it is supposed to eat. Success always come at a price. That is a lesson I learned a long time ago. It's only in the dictionary that success comes before hardwork. Work usually comes before success. You can pay now and play later, or you can play now and pay later. Either way, you're going to pay. Creating a climate for potential leaders also requires a leader to pay a price. It begins with preparation. Proper Preparation prevents poor performance. If you fail to prepare for life, ministry, marriage, career, chances are you should prepare to fail. If you don't prepare you'll have a lot of things to repair.

Many people don't think like the ants, they live in the present. They lack a insight or foresight into the future. Only few people think about tomorrow because it takes wisdom to see tomorrow. Yet tomorrow is the harvest of the seed sown today. Your preparation during summer determines your harvest. The ants teaches us that the best time to prepare for tomorrow is today. Just like the ants, are you sowing seeds for the future? Remember it's the law of sowing and reaping. What a man sows he'll surely reap. You can't feature in a future you're not adequately prepared for. The quality of your seeds determines the quality of your harvest. Sow seeds that you want to reap in the future. If you don't like your harvest, change the seeds.

What Is Preparation?
The word prepare is a combination of two words pre and pare. Prepare is from Latin praeparāre, from prae before + parāre to make ready]. Thus preparation in simple terms means to groom, mature, equipped, make ready, or suitable in advance for a particular purpose or for some use, event. It also means to put things or oneself in readiness; educate for a future role or function. It means to undergo training or instruction in preparation for a particular role, function, or profession, ministry, career or vision.

Preparation does four basic things for us, it positions people correctly, it helps one maximise or take advantage of opportunities, it increases your level of effectiveness and competence, it increases your level of performance, productivity and results. And it is often the separation between winning and losing.

Preparation also means to put yourself in a position that makes it easier for opportunities to come. Your location is where your allocation is. Some people aren't rightly positioned and this reduce their opportunity to succeed. While four of them are very important, I think the second one is more important. Why? Because what makes the difference is whether or not you can take advantage of the opportunities. What’s the use of getting a lot of opportunities or platforms if you can’t take advantage of them?

So, because the second point is more important, I will focus on it here.

Preparation Takes Time

There is one important characteristic of preparation that you must understand: it takes time and patience. (We will consider this amazing statement in a latter episodes). You can’t prepare for something big overnight. Many people especially the 21st century youths are too hasty. One major attitude we must cultivate as young leaders is the ability of delay gratification, ability to wait and that requires patience. Some things just take time. You can't get 9 pregnant women to give birth to a baby in one month.. Sure you know It doesn't work. It takes 9 months to deliver a real baby, your 9 months could be five, six, ten to 30 years. The ant has the ability of delay gratification... It's willing to wait. You should understand that waiting time is not wasting time....You're birthing greatness.....
In fact, bigger opportunities or platforms require bigger preparation. Just think about the level of preparation it takes to go to the Olympics. Those who want to go to the Olympics must prepare themselves for years, often from an early age.

Although winter comes as no surprise, many of us are not prepared (fit, ready, mature, equipped) for its arrival. That’s why it’s important that you prepare for future opportunities. Wisdom prepares for the unknown, the unseen and the intangible. Most people live in the realm of the seen. Don’t wait for opportunities or platforms until they come before you start preparing for them. It would have been too late by then. Most people aren't prepared for the demands of leadership. Prepare yourself early and you will be ready by the time they come.

Don’t wait until it’s too late. Prepare yourself early and years from now people will be amazed at how “lucky” you are.

Reflection: The size of your vision determines the level of your preparation.