Tested Is a Moment. Ready Is Everything Before It.

Bev and I are blessed to count Devon & Pearlene Clunis as friends. They are both published authors and Devon is recognized as the first Black Police Chief in Canada. We are delighted that Devon has given his blessing for us to publish his monthly newsletter. .

Monthly Inspiration from Devon Clunis – Newsletter Issue #06 | June 2026

🕊️ Opening Reflection

When was the last time you felt truly tested? I’m not talking about the kind of test you study for, or the kind where someone tests your patience in traffic. I’m talking about the kind that reaches down to the core of who you are and asks, right then, in real time, who are you actually going to be? Does anything come to mind?

I walked through one of those tests recently. It had nothing to do with my work, but I noticed almost immediately that the leadership skills I built over years on the job were exactly what carried me through. The first one that mattered most was tact. The ability to read a situation that was unfolding fast and could have gone in a dangerous direction, and to use calm, practiced communication to bring the temperature down instead of letting it rise. I hoped for a peaceful outcome the whole time, but I was prepared to take decisive action if the moment called for it.

Once it was over, I sat with a real sense of gratitude. Not for luck. For preparation. For the years of experience and critical thinking I had built long before that day ever arrived. Trust me, the potential for a far more serious outcome was sitting right there the entire time.

---

Tested Is a Moment. Ready Is Everything That Happens Before It.

Here’s something I’ve believed for a long time, and I’ll say it plainly. I have never been a fan of the idea that we learn the most from our failures. It sounds wise. It gets repeated a lot. But some lessons are too expensive to learn in the moment they show up. By the time you’re living the lesson, it may have already cost you something you can’t get back.

Tested is what happens to you. It arrives on its own schedule and rarely asks permission. Ready is what you bring into that moment, built quietly, on all the days nobody was watching.

---

Why We Keep Skipping the Preparation

Think about how often we walk into some of life’s hardest moments with little or no preparation. No wonder we come out shaken. I get the appeal of the take a chance, fall down, get back up approach. It makes for a good story. But I’ll ask the obvious question. Does it actually have to be that way?

I don’t think it does. Picture the airline industry for a second. Imagine if every pilot had to learn their hardest lessons through their own personal trial and error, mid air. Stop right there. I already know not every mistake carries the same weight, and most of us have a decent sense of which ones do. And still, so many of us rush in anyway, without asking for advice or taking the basic precaution sitting right in front of us.

Maybe that’s just human nature. I won’t argue against that. But I will argue this. We owe it to each other to learn, to grow, and to pass on what we’ve learned so it can serve more than just ourselves. That, to me, is leadership at its best.

---

Building a Practice of Readiness

Readiness isn’t a personality trait. It’s a discipline, and like any discipline, it’s built through small, repeated choices.

1. Study Before the Storm. You don’t have to live through every hard moment yourself to learn from it. Pay attention to what tested the people around you, and let their experience sharpen your instincts before your own test arrives.
2. Rehearse the Response Calm. Under pressure isn’t something you find in the moment. It’s something you practice long before, in the quiet, ordinary stretches of life, so it’s already there when you need it.
3. Pass It On. The most generous thing you can do with a hard lesson is hand it to someone else before they have to learn it the hard way too.

---

Your Readiness Matters

Let’s move preparation from idea to habit.

✅ Name One Test You Can See Coming
Think of a challenge you can likely see on the horizon, personal or professional. What would it look like to prepare for it now instead of waiting to react later?

✅ Learn From Someone Who’s Already Been Tested
Find someone who has walked through something similar to what you might face. Ask them what they wish they’d known beforehand.

✅ Share a Lesson That Cost You Something
Think of a lesson you learned the hard way. Who in your life is walking toward that same test right now? Tell them what you know.

---

Final Thought

We live in a culture that romanticizes learning the hard way, the scars, the stumbles, the stories that start with “I didn’t see it coming.” There’s real courage in that, and I won’t take anything away from it. But I think what our families, our teams, and our communities need just as much is the quieter discipline of getting ready before the test ever shows up.

This year isn’t half over by accident. We’ve had six months to gather lessons. Let’s spend the next six sharing them.

After all, wisdom that stays with one person only helps one person. Shared, it becomes preparation for everyone walking the road behind you.

With gratitude and belief in our capacity to prepare.
🙏 Devon

Devon’s Substack is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Devon’s Substack that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won’t be charged unless they enable payments.

Pledge your support

---