My husband is very keen on the above quote.  He applies it in all sorts of ways. I was reminded of this when chatting to someone about taking on a part time study course. I did this in my mid 30s and they asked me how I coped being a student, holding down a full time job and ( at that time) being the mum of school age children. Looking back I would love to say that I was fully prepared for each of my roles. In practice I had a very good support network and I muddled through.

In the third year of my studies ( it was a 4 year course) my daughter fell ill and had to be admitted to hospital. She was fine and now takes medication but I stayed in hospital with her for a few days and when she got home we needed to make adjustments to family life – studying was the furthest thing from my mind. I missed lectures but when it came up to exam time I could not face the prospect of resitting that semester so I crammed my revision and  study into a very short focused time and – thankfully – passed them all.

Memo to me – plan – and build in some “what if” time, which I now do routinely. My biggest challenge now is recognising how much time is enough for preparation. If I give myself too much I find it hard to focus. I have a really important speaking engagement this evening which I have been preparing for a couple of months now. And suddenly it is here and I will practice ( in front of the mirror…fun!) later.  I feel sure I could have done all of the preparation over the weekend with the same result.

No matter what I will be prepared. Do you have any thoughts or stories to share about  how much preparation time is enough for you?