August 31, 2019   |   Tagged Leadership,

Are you prepared for the unexpected

How to develop greater patience

Because of sophisticated technology, we are able to be forewarned about many natural disasters such as hurricanes. This window of time saves many lives. Conversely, when there isn’t time to prepare, people can literally lose their wits and their lives. In the 1660’s Daniel Defoe wrote what is considered one of the best written descriptions of a natural disaster in history. He describes his town under siege from the Plague that ravaged Europe.

Most of the people wanted to deny it was happening at first. They didn’t want to admit the extent of the trouble. After people were willing to admit that the plague was killing many people in the city, many people resorted to total panic and abandonment of any moral conscience. Families who had infected members knowingly infected many others in their attempts to save themselves. Those, however, who had a deep and meaningful faith before the plague struck were able to handle the plague without losing their wits or their moral conscience. It was the daily work before the disaster which allowed people to live wisely and compassionately during the crisis. How about you?

Are you prepared for the Unexpected?

• Do your emotions rule you or do you rule your emotions?
• When there is scarcity or crisis, do you think to serve others or do you only think about yourself?
• Does your life revolve only around you and your advancement or do you work to help advance others?
• How much does fear or peace influence your decisions?
• How much do you live in regret or live in gratitude?
• How much are you talking about what you will do and how much are you accomplishing?

One reason why our year becomes more difficult than we imagine over the course of a season is because difficulty is often unexpected or the challenge is greater than we originally thought it would be.

Difficulty often catches us by surprise.

The best way to prepare for difficulty is to be prepare when life is calm and you are in a healthy place of mind.

Decisions made in difficulty can lead you astray.
When difficulty strikes you unprepared, regroup and get more strategies in place. Struggles compound when we are unprepared.

Prepare When Life is Calm

a. Who is my mentor-- who can I call for wisdom and objectively wise counsel when I encounter a crisis next year?

b. What are the character traits I want for my life in crisis? Having expectations of your character in difficulty before you go through challenges allows you to have a measurement to keep you focused when times are tough.

c. What is your mantra in crisis-- what is an inspirational phrase or word you want to be your lodestar.

d. What do I need in place for the difficulty? Extra time for rest, quality friends, spiritual leadership, wells of hope and courage to draw from.

e. Where are your Achilles heels? If you were going to struggle, where do you see the challenge coming from?

f. Difficulties become compounded. What is your plan to isolate the difficulty so that you don't cause the difficulty to snowball? We snowball difficulty through mismanaged emotional outbursts, anger, rage, depression, isolation, frustration, blame, giving up and quitting.

Your preventative work now will help prepare you WHEN difficulty comes your way this year.

About NBC Basketball

NBC Basketball is an intensive skill training program focused on helping athletes, coaches, and parents become their very best. Becoming intentional about how to live is a training emphasis at NBC Camps. NBC stands for Nothing Beats Commitment and the belief that a person's daily habits reveal their future. NBC Basketball offers camps, clinics, academies, travel teams, team camps, pure shooting camps, position training camps, and college basketball prep camps. For more information about NBC Camps visit www.nbccamps.com.