“Keep Your Powder Dry”- Staying Ready for the Right Moment | 142

Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. I’m so glad you’re here. Today, I’m diving into a phrase that’s stuck with me through all kinds of moments—both the calm and the chaotic: “Keep your powder dry.”

Now, I know—it sounds a bit old-school. And it is. But it holds some serious wisdom, especially if you’re someone juggling big decisions, leadership roles, creative projects, or just trying to navigate everyday life without burning out.

So what does it actually mean? Why has it become a personal motto of mine when things get hectic or uncertain? That’s exactly what we’re exploring today.

Whether you’re making a career move, running a school event, or just trying to not say “yes” too quickly, this phrase has something to offer. Let’s break it down and see how keeping your powder dry might just help you time things right and move with purpose.

Where to find me: 

Crescendo Community Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/crescendocommunity
Official Crescendo Page: https://www.facebook.com/CrescendoMusicEd/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CrescendoMusicEd
Twitter: https://twitter.com/crescendomusic
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-o-shea-62a3741b/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/CrescendoDeb

Introduction

Here is the Crescendo Music Education Podcast – Episode 142.

This podcast is being recorded on the lands of the Turrbal people. I acknowledge them as the traditional owners of the land and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. They were the first music makers on this land.

If you’d prefer to listen to this episode, click here!

About ‘Read the Episode’: Sometimes, we would rather skim visually than listen to a podcast! That’s a great way to learn too!
The transcript of episode 142 of The Crescendo Music Education Podcast is below.

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Debbie O’Shea

Welcome to the Crescendo Music Education Podcast. I am Debbie O’Shea and this episode is going to be a little bit different. It’s going to be shorter for a start, a Crescendo Quickie, if you will. We’re going to talk about mindset. The longer that I am in this profession, the more I realise it’s mindset that makes the difference. I’ve made a few shifts over the last few years that have increased my enjoyment in my job, it makes a huge difference. So I wish to talk about a little saying that I have in the back of my head that’s helped me a lot over the past few years.

Patience Is Key

Debbie O’Shea 

Keep your powder dry. I want to talk about how I’ve used that saying and when I say use it, I mean in my head, not necessarily out loud, though I will give it to people as a piece of advice like now. So let’s see how this saying has helped me enjoy my job a little bit more and made this mindset shift. Really, it’s about staying ready for the right moment and not wasting time and energy in the wrong way. It’s an old school phrase. It suggests preparation and patience.

We don’t always have enough patience. Our job is just go, go, go, go, go. This saying has helped me in some certain high stakes sort of situations, or potentially high stakes situations. Let’s talk about where it’s from. So as far as I know, it came from the English Civil War. So we’re talking- let me check the years- 1642 to 1651 attributed to Oliver Cromwell.

So the full phrase was “Put your trust in God my boys, but mind to keep your powder dry”. Soldiers in those days used muskets and cannons and if their powder, their gun powder wasn’t dry it simply didn’t work. Their weapons were useless. So I take that to mean if you do not have your powder dry, ready for your potential situations, then you will also be fairly useless. You need to keep your reserves.

You need to be patient. So it’s about being prepared and ready for action. Don’t waste your resources prematurely. I guess in my situation, I applied it more to my resources being battles I need to fight and those I don’t need to, I can just let it go. Let it go, I’ll save that for later. Keep your options open and then you can respond effectively when you need to.

Debbie O’Shea 

So it’s saved me. It, as in this phrase, has saved me from acting too soon sometimes, jumping in ready to defend myself or defend my position or fight for something when I really didn’t have to. Like I didn’t need to waste my energy and time on the wrong opportunities, also to stop me jumping into something before I was ready for it.

Think Before You Act

Debbie O’Shea 

So I guess it’s about strategic patience. Let me give you a couple of little examples, school ones of course, it’s the sort of saying that can help you in everything. But since this is a music education podcast, I’ll just talk about school. Alright, the administration, maybe your Principal or Deputy Principal, whoever is your line manager, comes up and asks you if you can do an extra playground duty today. So and so is sick, they just need an extra pair of hands.

Could you do an extra playground duty today, please? Alright? Think, before you answer, think, is this a situation where I can just go sure I can do that. I can be flexible. I can be a team player. Yes, I was here really early to do choir. I’m staying back after school for a parent teacher interview. I have a major performance in two days time in the evening. I really don’t have the capacity to do an extra playground duty, or do I?

Should I just say yes, be a team player, get some brownie points and keep my powder dry for when I really need it, when we’re looking at permanently adding extra playground duties on top of all of the other things that I do. Should I just, this one time go okay? Or even with a little caveat, like, yes, sure, I’m happy to help out. I’m a little bit tired today, I had my rehearsal this morning but I’m really happy to help out in this one off situation. So I elected to keep my powder dry and do the extra playground duty. Yes, I was tired, but I also thought that’s okay I will chat to the kids.

I’ll make the most of it. I will relax and I’m not going to stress about it, I am going to keep my powder dry. Only you can know if it’s a situation where you need to keep your powder dry, or whether you need to jump in and fight for that decision and say, Look, I’m sorry I just can’t, if I do one extra thing today you will have to scrape me up off the floor from under my desk where I will be sobbing. Okay, so there are times, I’m not saying just say yes to everything you need to make a judgment call on every situation.

But if you put it through the keep your powder dry test it might help. In a situation like that, I tend to as much as possible say yes if it’s just a little favour and a little inconvenience, because I will then wait and take a stand when it’s much more impactful and important to me, because schools are a very complex place. There’s many moving parts, many considerations, and many personalities.

Debbie O’Shea 

So that was one, the sort of case that might happen, another one that’s happened to me quite recently is a timetable that’s not really ideal for music teachers. I much prefer time blocking where possible. So for example, I would rather have three Prep classes in a row than a Prep class, followed by a Year Three, followed by Year Five.

Preparing For Timetables

Debbie O’Shea 

They have different resources, different setups, the physical space, it makes a difference with different year levels. But let alone the physical space, there’s mental space. It’s me preparing to teach 5 year olds or teaching 11 year olds and, Oh, we’re back to 8 year olds. Have I taught tika tika yet? Hold on, a quick check of the lesson plans.

What was the new game? That task switching is so difficult, whereas if I know I’ve got three Preps in a row, I’m going to use this puppet, good I’ll get that puppet out. Ooh, I need the egg maracas, I’ll pull out the tub of egg maracas, put it over there and I’ll be all nice and ready. I’ll have my lesson plan there. Away I go. Music cued. Any videos ready instead of switch, switch, switch, switch, switch. So I much prefer time blocking, as possibly most of you would do with your year levels.

But sometimes that can’t happen. I call it a bit of a first world problem. Can I just put up with this though, because I still get to see the children and absolutely you can be flexible about how much of that is give and take and as much as possible, I make my feelings known kindly, but generally, I keep my powder dry. I still get to see the children. I still get to run a program. It’s not as convenient for me, but really, I’m going to keep my powder dry. I’m going to keep my ammunition. I feel almost a bit bad. I’m talking about battles and ammunition, but I’m sure you all understand what I’m talking about.

Okay, this does not mean and I need to stress this, that you have to be a yes man. You don’t have to say yes to everything that’s put to you, but put yourself in their shoes, whoever is asking this favour of you, they have a whole lot of needs and agendas and you need to take that into consideration as well, don’t you? So listen and think, put forward your point of view and then make a decision, should I keep my powder dry? Be a team player?

Get a little bit of credit in the bank for when I really need a favour, keep your powder dry for when you need it. So I’ve got a little bit of credit in the bank because I’ve kept my powder dry and I need extra time to rehearse for a concert that’s coming up, or a whole school event and I think we should have a bit of a run through and that disturbs focused teaching time. I mean, our time is focused too.

But anyway, don’t get me started on that. Well, then I feel absolutely no hesitation to say we are doing this, I need this. Can you help, please? And if they can’t, perhaps that is when my dry powder, it’s back there in the back of my mind. It can then be brought into action, yeah, but I need this because da, da, da and you fight that fight, put forward your opinions and your reasons and the value for the children and you get that powder out and you fire those guns, and you fire that cannon, because that is what’s best for the children and your program. So it’s about actively maintaining your readiness, not making your moves too soon, keep your reserves. Save your energy for the battles that really matter.

Debbie O’Shea 

So I’m wondering where in your life and your work, do you need to keep your powder dry, you’re not rushing into decisions, flying off the handle. Are you building up your reserves? Are you checking the condition of your powder, making sure you’re ready for action if you need it. When you’re making career decisions, life decisions? Is this something you’re willing to spend your resources on? Is this something I need to negotiate, or is this something I can let go? I’m not too worried about the consequences of agreeing to what is happening here. I’m going to be patient, I’m going to be strategic, I’m going to know when to hold (sings) “got to know when to hold them”. Okay, you got to know when to hold on to your ammunition and you’ve got to know when to move forward.

So my challenge to you is to see when keep your powder dry might come in handy as a bit of a saying to have in the back of your mind, knowing when to build your reserves, knowing when to stay patient, knowing when to hold off and knowing when you have to make a move. I’d love to hear if this phrase resonates with you. Shoot me an email in**@***********om.au or hop on my Facebook page. The official page is Crescendo Music Education or you can come and join the private page, the Crescendo Community. We have great discussions in there and I will be back next time with another phrase that you might find very useful to help you with your mindset in the music classroom.

Sign-Off

Thank you for joining me for this podcast. Don’t forget, you’ll find the show notes and transcript and all sorts of information on crescendo.com.au. If you’ve enjoyed the podcast or found it valuable, you might like to rate it on your podcast player and leave a review. I’d really appreciate it if you did. All I can be as the best version of me. All you can do is be the best you. Until next time, bye.

Just for Laughs

As we know, laughter relieves stress, don’t lose sight of the funny side of life.
What did one hat say to the other? You stay here. I’ll go on a head. (laughs) _{That’s a primary school joke.}