Viral meningitis knocked me flat. The lesson I relearned was even more painful.
I spent last week flat on my back, fevering with viral meningitis, watching my carefully planned week dissolve into nothing. And I relearned something important I already knew all too well. I walked straight into one of the exact traps I help others avoid. I should have known better.
I thought I’d share, to help remind you. Just in case you’d done like me and forgotten this important lesson.
Mike Tyson said it best: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
I had an ambitious week planned. Big projects to tackle, important conversations to have, momentum to build. I was looking forward to diving in and making progress. I love building!
Then viral meningitis knocked me flat on my ass for the entire week.
Sound familiar? Maybe not the meningitis part, but the part where life completely ignores your carefully crafted plans?
Here’s why the difference between planning and preparation might just save your sanity.
The Punch
The fever hit like a freight train. Brain fog so thick I couldn’t think straight. Zero energy. Complete incapacitation. I cleared my entire schedule and focused on one thing: getting better.
Clean eating. No alcohol. Everything dropped from my to-do list.
That last part was the hardest. The guilt was crushing. I felt like I was letting people down, people who were counting on me to contribute. I felt like I was letting my future self down, watching my progress get completely derailed.
I’d start to feel a bit better, shift back into “productivity mode,” and try to pick up where I’d left off. Then wham! Knocked right back on my ass again.
I can be stubborn, so it took three times before the lesson finally sank in. My body was sending me a pretty clear message, and it was NOT going to be ignored. There’s a saying I heard somewhere, something along the lines of “if you listen to the whispers of your body, you won’t have to hear it scream”.
Mine was screaming at me and still, I wasn’t listening.
When your health goes to hell, nothing else matters. Not even close. When you’re in constant pain, you’d give pretty much anything to feel normal again.
The Guide Who Lost His Way
The real piss-off? I know better. I help people avoid this exact trap!
It’s literally part of the framework I use when guiding clients through career reinvention. Health sits right at the foundation, the very first thing we address. Because when your foundation is shaky, everything else crumbles.
But somewhere along the way, I’d started slipping. Not getting out for my walks in nature. Skipping meditation. Letting myself get pulled into more reactionary behaviour than I’d like. All the small stuff that I know matters.
I felt ridiculous. Here I am, guiding people away from this exact pitfall, and I walked straight into it myself.
But maybe that’s the point. Knowledge isn’t enough, not even for the guy helping others navigate these waters. We all know what we should do (it’s actually pretty simple), but knowing and doing are two very different animals.
Even guides lose their way sometimes.
Planning vs. Preparation
Last week, I posted something on social that got a strong reaction, and it relates to this topic.
Amanda is certainly not alone. Most of us confuse planning with preparation.
Here’s the difference: Planning maps the route. Preparation builds the vehicle.
Planning asks: “What exactly will I do and when?”
Preparation asks: “Who do I need to become and what capabilities do I need to build?”
Most people spend months crafting the “perfect” career plan, mapping out every step, only to have the whole thing blown up by a random conversation or unexpected opportunity. Meanwhile, others seem to stumble into amazing opportunities left and right.
What’s the difference?
Planning is the prerequisite to preparation. You need to know the key steps before you can develop yourself to handle them. But most people stop at the planning stage instead of using those plans to build the capabilities, mindset, and relationships that make them ready for whatever actually comes.
Instead of trying to predict the unpredictable future, focus on building the capabilities that make you ready for whatever shows up.
The Superpower
“Man plans and God laughs.”
True. But here’s something to ponder: Can you be the one laughing when your plans fall apart?
Imagine if you could. That’s a super power!
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan. “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” We need plans, or we literally won’t accomplish anything meaningful. Anything complicated requires a roadmap that identifies the key steps to get there.
But what we really need is the grace to accept that life happens and the resilience to keep going when (not if!) our carefully crafted plans go sideways.
Plans are just lies we tell ourselves. But they’re important lies, because that’s how stuff gets done.
The magic happens when you can hold both truths: Plan like your plan will work perfectly, but prepare yourself for when it doesn’t.
When you can laugh at the chaos instead of being crushed by it, you’ve unlocked something most people never will.
What’s one way you could be more prepared for opportunities this week, even if you don’t know what they’ll look like yet? Reply and let me know!!
Quotation I’ve Been Pondering
“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
— Dwight D. Eisenhower
Journal Prompt
“How might I build my life so that even when things go sideways, I can still feel grounded and aligned?”
Until next week!!
Work and live well.
Tim
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