be ahead of the game

1. To be prepared for something ahead of schedule. For once, we got our Christmas decorations up right after Thanksgiving, so we're ahead of the game. My term paper isn't due until next week, but I want to be ahead of the game and finish it tonight. You have all these boxes of files to go through before the merger, and I suggest you start now, so we're ahead of the game.

2. To learn something before other people do. I was ahead of the game because I heard that Greg would be promoted before it actually happened. I don't know if I trust her. She's just an intern—why would she be ahead of the game with trade information? It's hard to be ahead of the game in network security when the threat landscape is constantly changing.