Key Point: a winning professional football team puts in 40 hours of practice for a 2 hour game, including going over every possible scenario. Renowned symphony orchestras follow a similar pattern. Great speakers do the same. If you want to be great at anything you need to practice with purpose over and over until you can be fully and consciously competent.
A CEO friend runs a company where a year’s business relationship and contract hinges on about 24 hours of intense activity. He supports inventory services for tier one companies. The “moment of truth,” including all his company brand promises, is focused on this intense period of time. The company delivers or not, all in a real time basis. The only way to stay sane and ensure success is to purposefully practice all the way up to “game time.” This includes covering every situation where something could go wrong and having a contingency. Everything is a process (to get desired results) and the process is everything. People who complain about process like to rely on blind chance (good luck). But even the greatest poker players follow a reliable, practiced process.
Character Move:
- Determine what competencies you want to purposefully practice.
- Define your “moment of truth” (i.e. where your competencies are exposed and tested)?
- Practice, practice, practice doing it right. Develop contingencies.
- Then, practice more.
Purposeful Practice in The Triangle,
Lorne