What precedes: Passion or Preparation?

‘To be or not to be is the question’ wrote William Sheksphere the famous English writer in ‘Hamlet’. The context in the play is with reference to the dilemma of life and death. Here however we are only referring to the dilemma.

The dilemma of whether passion supersedes prepararation or vice versa.

If you have seen the movie ‘300’, you may recall the passionate and a spirited fight the 300 Spartans put against 1,20,000 (0.12 million) Persian soldiers and their King Xerxes. This means each Spartan fought 400 Persian solders. A ratio of 1:400. We don’t see such a ratio even in action movies.

We see passion superseding preparation that holds us onto the edge till the end of the movie.

Recently Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched PSLV C23 carrying 5 foreign satellites in the orbit. Scientists were preparing for this for the last 16 months after PSLV C20 launch in February 2013.

The Mars Orbiting Mission is yet another mission under planning and execution that tests ISROs ability to take something to Mars, keep it in good health during the journey and make it go around the red planet.

It is their meticulous preparation that helped them launch PSLV C23 successfully or the Mars Orbit Mission.

India won many medals in the recently held Common wealth games, Glasgow. We saw two Phogat sisters from Haryana winning the Gold medal in free style wrestling. Vinesh and Babita Kumari. Babita in one of her interviews shared that she damaged her ligament during training in Glasgow. She said to her sister Geeta that I don’t care how bad it is, if I can stand I will fight. She did and she won the Gold for the country.

Preparation and passion got these sisters where they are today.

A look at the biopics like Chak de India, Bhag Milkha Bhag or recently released Mary Kom give us insight that it is the preparation and passion combined that helps break the ceiling and achieve the desired goal.

Famous writer T Alan Armstrong says “Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend in preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character”.

Sometimes your breakdowns become the seed for your breakthroughs, says the writer-speaker-coach Robert Ricciardelli.

Yet there are many who believe that one should not wait for the perfect time to start.

I know one person who did not wait for the perfect time or an opportunity. His circumstances as per the normal understanding of most of us were not all that good. Just after completing his engineering he started a small manufacturing unit. He used to go to his unit on a bicycle travelling 10 miles one way. With his relentless efforts he expanded his company. His company today is one of the preferred auto component suppliers to big auto companies.  He believes that there is no perfect time. The moment your thought crystallises, you should start and keep improving along the way with the best quality benchmarks in mind.

Juxtapose the above things in office context.

Following process enhances selling however we also need gut to understand the customer’s requirement, work out the right fitments and offer suitable solution.

What is the outcome of over preparation for a sales call and under passionate pitch? Will we be able to close a sale?

On the other hand take work areas like setting up of the processes & systems; managing projects etc. We need to be meticulous in our approach while handling these portfolios.

What if we are required to prepare a business plan? Mostly we will try and use the science of developing a plan. Now what if we are to present the plan? Do you think sharing just the science part, the projections, the statistics and the assumptions will suffice? Or a conviction of the teams’ participation, common vision and a passionate belief in executing the plan will be more convincing?  What is your experience?

The bigger question still is what precedes. Passion or preparation?