How prepared are you to win?
Preparation, practice and lessons learned from sport that we can use to win in business
Gary Player the South African golfer says: “The more I practice, the luckier I get.” Just look at his record. He has also said that winning is a habit and that success breads success. Related to business, preparation is as important or more important than presentation. To understand what it takes to win, one has to understand oneself, and then know as much or more about the audience and potential clients than they do themselves.
Whether coaching, captaining managing or playing on teams in sport or the workplace, sharing credit and giving credit where credit is due is beyond critical from a motivation standpoint. People want to learn and they want to be motivated, connected, recognized and rewarded. If you play sport, think how often you raise your game when you are around better players or how you push yourself to keep up when you are around thought leaders or smart people either socially or at work (some people just run for the hills 
).
What differentiates the elite sportsmen and women that consistently perform at the highest level at Wimbledon in the final rounds or at the Masters on a Sunday from the others and why are the other competitors that are seemingly as good technically, unable to consistently get the job done when they need to?
The elite that win consistently have focus, concentration, discipline and process. They also manage their energy. To understand what it takes be at your best and come through when the chips are down at work or play, I highly recommend a book called the Power of Full Engagement – Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Tony Schwartz and Dr. Jim Loehr. The authors studied the sporting wlite to see what the differentiatopors were. They found that they were spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically fit and it requires managing your energy and replenishing it – which requires being fit. Those that consistently win in the sports world, do not go out partying the night before a tournament or during the tournament. They want to be at their best – fit, rested, energized and focused.
I was out late with friends and one of them said they had an early morning pitch the next day. He went home at 1.15 after downing a few. If he practiced and prepared the way elite sports people do, would his outcomes be different? Would he perform at a different level? He says no they would not be different. If an elite marathoner’s preparation routine was applied to business and that was the expected standard, how long would we keep our jobs with the way we practice and prepare today? Think about it, if you put in the preparation for your work that Tiger Woods does for his work, and followed his routine before an important pitch, what results do you think you would have?
Comments
Completely agree – good motivational piece too!
Jacques – Tx. I like to look for the things in other areas that can be applied across the things I do – especially in the work environment. I do find a ton from sport considering that they have to perform and be motivated every time they step out there.
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