A few years ago I wrote about how there’s no point constantly preparing for the big moment if it never comes. Or worse — the expected-unexpected-unknown-monstrous thing does happen and you still can’t deliver. In the end, you were just all practice, no match. Nothing more. Worthless.
“You need to get your horsepower on the road.” I first heard that line years ago from a senior executive on the board of a large financial services company. Sure, I could have picked it up anywhere. But I associate that phrase with this particular gentleman in his grey suit, whom I didn’t particularly like. Coming from his mouth, it sounded rather dismissive.
Lots of muscles but stiff as a board?
As worn-out as the saying sounds, it’s equally true. We prepare all the time, over-engineer ourselves to the hilt. All day long we’re “pimping,” “hacking,” and self-optimising. But can we actually get the horsepower on the road when the weather’s bad and conditions aren’t ideal? Or is all that souping-up just one massive waste of time?
Are you there when it counts? Or can you not get your horsepower on the road and you move like a heavy truck? Or: have you built too many muscles to actually move?
Most of the time I write these short interjections as quick notes to myself. Really, I just wanted to document that I finally know what “die PS auf die Straße bringen” is in English: “to hit the ground running.” When I think of that, the Roadrunner immediately comes to mind. In that spirit: meep meep.
From the archives of reinergaertner.de, running since 1997. Translated with AI help and my questionable bilingual proofreading. If you spot a Germanismus — that’s a feature, not a bug.