This thread got me thinking about how else the phrase "ready to obey" is used in JW literature.
A very powerful method of getting ideas into someones head without too much effort is through music, especially familiar music.
The old JW song, Stay Awake, Stand Firm, Grow Mighty used to have the lines:
Stay awake and keep your senses,
Always ready to obey.
In his place each one be heeding
What Christ Jesus has to say.
From his fine example, we discern
How Jehovah’s favor all can earn.
So, as one, we serve as an army,
Ever loyal to God’s way.
It was changed to give greater prominence and authority to the JW leadership:
Stay awake, and keep your senses,
Always ready to obey,
Stay alert to Christ's direction
Through his faithful slave today.
Heed the counsel of the older men,
Who protect his sheep and truth defend.
No longer just about listening to Jesus - a fairly standard and relatively benign Christian trope, it is now explicitly about obeying the self-proclaimed 'Governing Body', who supposedly (and entirely unverifiably) are providing 'Christ's direction'.
To make the song even more 'hypnotic' than before, what was previously the final part of the last verse has been made a 'chorus' at the end of every verse:
Stay awake, stand firm, and grow mighty!
Carry on right to the end!
Run. It's a cult.