Cerebrate Weekly: Preparation Is The Game
Italian legendary football defender, and arguably the greatest defender of all time, Paulo Maldini once said: “If I have to make a tackle, I have already made a mistake“. Maldini’s words raises a simple yet crucial point: Be prepared always. Read the game throughout, Don’t miss the play and get into the right position. If you do, you will not put yourself in a position to tackle: you’ll get the ball anyway. In other words, having to tackle exposes the lack of preparation.
Four thousand years ago in ancient Egypt, two brothers competed to build two pyramids where the winner would be awarded with a lifetime of riches from the Pharaoh. The story of how these two brothers approached the work also teaches us a remarkable lesson about preparation. The first brother Azura kickstarted his work instantaneously. He physically dragged all the stones into place and in a few months, he built the bottom layer of the pyramid. However, two years later Azura died of physical exhausation from all the hard work leaving behind an unbuilt pyramid under construction. Meanwhile, his brother Chuma worked on developing cranes that would lay down the bricks during the same timeline without laying a single brick for the pyramid. Once the crane was prepared, Chuma ended up building the pyramid within a span of few months. Chuma teaches us an important lesson: preparation is the game.
In the scientific world, we have a similar parable. Thousands of apples have fallen to the ground for thousands of years. Yet, it was only in the seventeenth century that Isaac Newton decided to question the force behind this phenomenon. What was so special about Newton?
The truth is, he was “prepared” unlike the rest of humanity who witnessed the same for a long period of time in history. Sir Isaac Newton decided to give a thought on the incident: Why did the apple fall to the ground? Why isn’t it rising upwards instead? The unusual thoughts which took over Newton’s mind resulted in the discovery of one of the greatest scientific phenomenon of all time: the earth exerted a force on the apple. He proceeded to discover the laws of gravity.
These unusual thoughts, as it may seem, weren’t random. Instead, long years of nurturing his philosophical mind prepared the ground for his thought.
💬Quote of the Week
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🎙 Podcast Episode: The Zwicky Box: a powerful method for problem solving and creativity.
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🧠Food for Thought
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💉Weekly dose of Inspiration
‘I’m going to sleep with it like a kid’ : Karim Benzema has recently been awarded the Ballon Dor 2022. After a decade of dominance by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at the French Gala, Benzema becomes the first striker to win it since.
However few years ago, if you were to ask who will be next to replace CR7 & Messi, there were many candidates but not Benzema.
Big names like Neymar, Greizman, Mbappe, Bale, and others were in the spotlight. But none of them could make it. What was Benzema’s secret? Patience & Perseverance
He didn’t care if he played second fiddle to Ronaldo at Real Madrid.
He was focused, and when the opportunity to lead presented itself, he grabbed it and led with style.
🛠️ Tools for Thought
Notion: Write, plan & get organized in one place. Notion is notes docs & todoist in one app. Notion integrates most of the productivity features & replaces multiple productivity apps.