I was out for one of my daily walks in one of the nearby nature parks in my area. This park is built on a defunct and closed quarry with its steep banks and ledges from where the stone was mined in its active quarry days. And now, the cliff and the park are covered with dense vegetation and several viewing areas where one could view Hamilton bay and the Ontario lake in gorgeous picture-perfect detail.
During my walk, I found that the Burlington Firefighters were doing a simulated drill using a life-size dummy to rescue someone who had fallen off the cliff. This was to reinforce the concept of learning through practice something before it is needed in the reality.
This is true in many aspects of life. We ignore putting in the work before we need it. We need to learn to exercise to keep our bodies healthy. We need to practice eating right before we fall into sickness from poor eating. We need to practice sleeping well before we have sleep debt and the challenges from it. We need to learn new skills before we need them to get or keep doing the work that we do. And the list goes on…
It is too often too late to get the learning that we need to handle a situation before we are in one. Proactive learning and practice of a portfolio of new things - patterns of learnings and experiences will help us to react to what life throws at us in a much better manner.