A lot of a firefighter’s shift is drills, checks and cleaning gear. The big moment rides on all the small boring ones.

The job that gets talked about is a fraction of the job that gets done, and the famous part only works because of the hours of checking behind it. Gear that has been cleaned and tested does not fail at the worst moment, which is the entire point and is invisible when it works. Nobody gets thanked for an inventory that was accurate.

Find the maintenance in your own thing: the equipment, the notes, the sleep, the admin you keep putting off. Do one of them properly this week and treat it as the work rather than as a chore before the work. Big moments are mostly decided beforehand.