The Age-Old truth – Prevention Is Better Than Cure.

Let’s explore cancer. It’s a life-threatening disease. And if you have one, you die. At least, that’s what some of the types of cancer are famous for. Worst, when you are young.

We know some causes of cancer. Few of those could be avoided. If you are a smoker, then you have a high chance of getting cancer.

It doesn’t mean – you will get cancer. Just your chances go up.

Now, imagine – you got cancer from smoking. Treatment is painful, expensive and long. You were lucky – you got saved. There will be posters and welcome back messages all over your neighbourhood. The doctors will be celebrated. And you will find new meaning in your life. Thousands of dollars, so much time and care of so many people have made it possible for you to beat cancer.

Or you could just have quit smoking and beaten cancer easy, fast and cheap. Without relying on so many great folks and being lucky.

The Difference

Take relationships, for example – sure you will be better off by falling in love and breaking up then not breaking up by avoiding falling in love. Because that’s how you experience the phase of finding yourself.

However, in the minute details – you can prevent a lot of things. Mending a relationship which is neglected is hard.

But, catching up, showing up and being lovely in small moments scan help prevent those tough times in the first place.

The idea isn’t to be scary and not try new things. But if something is linked to high risk and you don’t want that – then maybe you can avoid them.

A list of high risk things you can prevent:

• Business with zero savings in your bank.

• Smoking frequently.

• Swimming in the river without safety.

• Toxic masculinity in your relationships (for men).

• Riding a bike without a helmet.

In all of the above cases, you can prevent bad things by being careful. Wear a helmet to save your life. It’s more effective than stitching your broken head.

Again, it doesn’t mean you don’t take risks – but calculated one.

• Business with cushion savings money. So, if your business fails, you don’t go bankrupt.

• Smoking occasionally, to not make it a habit. Also, you can quit easily.

• Swimming within limits and with safety gears. Same adrenaline but your life is saved by safety gears and not by pumping water from within you.

• Empathy, humility and understanding in your relationships. So, you still risk breaking up in a relationship but not because of you.

• Ride a bike with a helmet. Still risky, but your head is prevented from opening up when you have an accident.

Whenever you can, prevent the bad things from happening. Bad things can still happen regardless but it’s just bad luck. And not some deliberate mishap from your side.

Life & Business Lessons

From this, you can learn some lessons which you apply to your life or business. Let’s explore…

1. Whatever decision you take – deep dive. Is it a preventive or curative measure? If it’s a curative one then can you make some lasting changes to prevent it in the first place. For example, if your customers are unsubscribing at a high rate. And you have a call center to convince them to stay, why not get all issues and improve them to decrease the subscription rate in the first place.

2. Curing isn’t bad. Sure, prevent by all means. But life happens. Have the courage to walk away when things go as planned. And make curative measures. For example, you got in a bad relationship despite warning flags. It’s okay. Now that you know – take curative measures and end the relationship fast. Don’t let it drag and take more energy from you.

3. As with every life lesson, there will be nuances. Take this idea and have it as a handy thing when evaluating tough decisions. Nothing will ever make you decide best all the time. But you can always decide better. Use everything you know and use your best rational ability. And if you still end up in bad decisions, rethink longer with more inputs.

Regardless, in life you have to keep taking leaps. To move forward, like life is – flowing.