On August 14, 2003, the traffic lights failed when leaving Manhattan with friends. The entire electricity grid had gone down in the city and surrounding areas. Fortunately, we escaped the inevitable disruption that continued for many days, as we were well on our way out of town when it happened. As we drove north, however, many cars had to pull over because they’d run out of gas. We were more fortunate. The friend driving us always kept the tank topped up, so we arrived safely.

I learned a big lesson that day. Until then, I thought to fill up when the warning light came on. Had we been in my car, we might all have been stranded on the side of the road in need of rescue. As it was, the inconvenience was minor, and we could help others in need—all thanks to one person who had the foresight to be prepared.

Twenty years later, with constant news of dysfunction and disruption in the headlines as we deal with unprecedented weather, polarizing ideologies, and global health issues, I’m reminded of this lesson from twenty years ago and how it is relevant today. The better prepared we are to deal with these challenges as they impact our daily lives, the more successful we will be.

So, what can we do to be better prepared? It is no coincidence that today’s significant disruptors share a common thread: We are all connected, and what affects one of us affects all of us. Firstly, understanding that every choice we make affects others either positively or negatively means that taking the responsibility of being prepared is not simply for our own benefit; it’s essential for the success of all of us. 

That said, because today’s challenges can seem so daunting, there is a prevalent strain of victim culture permeating the atmosphere. After all, it’s easier to blame others than to assume responsibility for our preparedness. This is a natural human response, but when we feel this way (and we all feel this way at some point), it achieves nothing but harm because we burden everyone to pick up our pieces.

This disrupts our relationships and compromises our support structures. And we all know how upsetting it is to feel used and abused and taken advantage of when people around us should have been prepared and weren’t. The collective result is even more dysfunction and disruption, which adds to stress levels that spill over into overwhelm, anxiety, depression, passive-aggressive acting out anger, and even violence. The consequences can be long-lasting and even catastrophic because if people have a choice, they will not want to be around this dysfunction and disruption if they don’t have to be. Unprepared people create a level of distrust and dislocation

because they are not reliable and can compromise our success.

So, here are some proactive and doable steps we can take every day to do our part in helping calm today’s turbulent waters. Being prepared involves making the conscious choice to take carefully thought-out actions such as Doing your research, making a plan, communicating, never making assumptions, doing what you say, paying attention to the present moment, being punctual, and caring for your mental and physical wellbeing.

We, of course, have no certainty about what the future has in store. But we do know, in the words of Confucius, that “Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation, there is sure to be a failure.” Our responsibility is to be as prepared and organized for ourselves and one another as possible, for none of us can be genuinely successful alone. And the more successful we all are, the more success we will have in navigating the challenges we face today.