Logistics is often overlooked, can make or break things, and those who take care of logistics get the returns in the long run.
Quite simply logistics is the management of the flow of resources between the start and the finish of some process. Taking care of logistics can reduce stress, increase odds of success, and tends to make things smoother. Ever notice you get nervous before a talk or doing something new? Often the nervousness is over logistics - will I get there in time, what if X happens, etc. Many confident people simple know that the logistics are taken care of, and that they can rely on a general scaffold around what they are doing. Becoming confident often boils down to learning the logistics in place in some environment, or setting up the logistics yourself. A large part of logistics is simply managing your own reactions to events, which is further aided by gathering tools or otherwise manipulating the environment in your favor.
So how to set up logistics? The key is to simulate the environment, in order to become aware of what will be needed to manage the resources (and indeed, to know what resources you need). There are a couple of time tested methods to getting logistics under control, mainly (1) practice, (2) thought experiments, and (3) constraints. By practicing you go through a mini run and "work out the bugs", thought experiments allow you to consider what-if scenarios in order to manage possibilities, and constraints are things you must fulfill giving you targets. The closer the simulation is to reality the better you will catch problems and hone the required logistics, the better thought out the constraints are the more you will get done.
For example, let us say you want to write a book. What are some logistics you can focus on? One is simply making a schedule - picking a temporal environment - and selecting a physical location for writing. You then find tools - dictionary, computer, desk, comfy chair, whatnot - and consider what you can do to improve odds of success: having a neat workspace, having water, being well feed, unplugging the phone, etc. Simply imagining you working and what could go wrong simulates the process. Then simply repeating the actual experience allows you further improvement on logistics - perhaps you though early morning would work for you, but you later find late in the night is better, etc. etc.
One of the key logistical tools you have at your disposal are constraints. Simply by picking a time that you must write for and having a target of how much to do will go a long long way to ensuring success. By finitely bounding the task you ensure you get to it, and also makes you don't do too much of it. Think of scheduling as turning priorities into time - you should set aside time in proportion to priorities. If writing really is a priority you better have time set aside for it, if you family is a priority ditto - and you better make sure your writing time doesn't cut into your family time.
Logistics is the art of managing your environment and yourself. This can sound, and often is, boring. But a little effort in simulating pre- task, adding useful constraints around the task, and considering what may arise can help you succeed. The reducing in stress is worth the sometimes tedious work, and putting a little effort into logistics will improve your odds of success. Also, by focusing on logistics you will find that this simple art of management is pretty transferable between tasks. Once you figure out logistics for one thing you can use the particulars for other things, often with minimal differences.
Logistics is really just preparing a little before jumping into a task - this preparation helps you make the jump, and improves the likelihood that something good will happen. After the splash you then reflect on what went well, and what didn't, and then you jump again. Logistics is about managing your jumps - ensuring you do it, and do it well (or at least slightly better than if you didn't take care of logistics). The key is jumping. Don't over think, just set aside some time for simulation, think up some useful constraints, do some practice if that is possible, and then do it, reflect on the experience and how you can improve the logistics, and do it again.
While logistics itself is often boring, it gets you doing exciting things.
Logistics is about getting comfortable with an environment, and tuning both your reactions and bringing tools to help you in that environment. Simulation is not reality, so your best bet is to actually just do what you want to do, but a little simulation can allow you to extract the most out of an experience and help it go smoothly. If you get stuck in the simulation phase you will never get comfortable. The best approach is iteration - think of what you can, jump in and learn, think about what you learned, jump in again, ... But jump, and jump often.
Get your basic logistics down, and then get down. Successful people manage themselves and their environments - they have logistics under control. Often is it "just" logistics coupled with persistence that leads to good outcomes.
You can get by without logistics - for example you can get an undergrad degree with extremely poor/nonexistent logistics - but if you want to thrive this is a basic tool you need.
