The Art of Preparation: Unearthing the Secret Sauce to Success Through Jewish Teachings

0:01 You better be ready, because when opportunity comes knocking, he doesn't stay there for very long. You better open up that door and take full advantage before he's gone. And if success in your mind is to score that job and win over the hearts of the bosses at the job interview, or maybe to grab the podium in front of thousands of people and deliver a soul-stirring public speech that will coax the nation to action, or maybe you are just venturing, endeavoring to have the very simple but elusive great day. If you own this process and master this skill, you will undoubtedly succeed.

0:44 But without this, absent this skill, you are either going to fail or deserve to fail. What is this wonderful secret sauce? It's none other than HaKhanah preparation. With necessary preparation, you will succeed. Without it, you are doomed. Nothing in life, no real accomplishment, can be had without sufficient preparation. Do you really hope to have a holy Shabbos without a Friday? Only the fools are upset when Shabbos doesn't go as planned, even though they haven't prepared properly. Misha Tahrachbe, erev Shabbos, yochalba Shabbos you set the table, you buy the wine, you buy the chala.

1:30 Boom, here we go with the Shabbos. Masilash Jasharm explains to us that really, this world, at a very broad scale, is just a big ball of preparation for the next world. Mayom laasosom ulamachar la kabosacharom. Preparation, the best public speaking advice I ever received from one of the most, perhaps Yeshevish Gentiles. I say that facetiously Dale Carnegie either him or Mark Twain is probably the most Yeshevish, but Dale Carnegie said that he heard in the name of the great Abraham Lincoln that a good speech is nine tenths delivered. It is before you even give the drusha.

2:10 You have prepared it, rehearsed it so many times that you are merely going through the motions and just adding a bit of energy when you're actually in front of the crowd because you have put in the necessary preparation. So success is impending, an eminent and for sure. This is the depth behind Ella, for we hope that God will slice off another bite, another piece of life for us in the upcoming year. We hope to prove triumphant on the day of judgment and that God will forgive us on the day of atonement. But how can atonement and successful judgment be won without an ill of necessary preparation?

2:51 That is Ella. The Befrying Waxman says do you hear stories about the great Rabbi Stroll, solander and the Biotrach Blazer, about the rusheshanas, or do you hear it all about how they prepared during Ella. That's when the commitments happen, that's when all the magic goes down for the smart ones. Without preparation you're doomed. Somebody who doesn't enjoy Torah learning? They probably just haven't necessarily prepared for it. They just don't know what it is, they don't know the language, the jargon, they don't know the back and forth. Who's talking? Why am I learning? You gotta prepare, says the Ramam, if you wanna have sweetness in your Torah learning. So if you wanna ace that job interview, the hair's good, the dimple in the tie.

3:33 You know the questions they're gonna ask and you have the answers prepared. The drusha you've gone over so many times. You know the questions the crowd might ask. And for rusheshanayyom kippur ol'amorso, you know that Hashem's gonna ask all about the differences. He's gonna ask all about the chuva efforts. So get it done now, hayom la asosom. Prepare properly, prepare to succeed. Tachana, preparation is everything.