Preparation is just panic you handled in advance.

Panic is mostly your brain meeting a problem for the first time with no time left. Preparing moves that meeting earlier, to a point where the stakes are low and you can still think clearly, so on the day the situation is familiar instead of new. The work involved is the same either way. Only the timing and the fear change.

Ask what the three most likely problems are and handle them now. Print the ticket, learn the first line properly, check the route. You will never find out how much calmer you made the day.