Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 29 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: The Encore Effect – Part 5
— From The Encore Effect: How to Achieve Remarkable Performance in Anything You Do by Mark Sanborn
Welcome back! In yesterday’s post, we looked at the difference between living our passions and living passionately. While subtle in language, there is a great difference in making it a reality.
As promised, today we will continue to examine other necessary Ps to achieve remarkable performances: Preparation and Practice.
In The Encore Effect, Mark Sanborn points out that each of us is creating our future, right now. “Whether the future is five minutes from now or five years, it is determined by our preparation—or lack of it.”
There is a lot of information on preparing for standardized tests, or for disasters, or preparedness in general for so many things… Unfortunately, Sanborn mentions, “there is a lot less information available on the extra effort that will enable you to perform remarkably and the preparation that will separate your performance from everyone else’s. Sometimes the difference between remarkable and ordinary—between ‘Thanks for coming’ and ‘When can you come back?’ is razor-thin.”
What makes the difference is preparation. Learn all you can about your audience, anticipate every question, and rehearse every problem. Always have a backup plan.
Sanborn goes on to say that “the link between preparation, practice and proficiency applies to every kind of performance. It’s found everywhere from parenting and software programming to pastoring and public relations.”
“The confidence you need can only come from doing something again and again.”
Practice. Practice. Practice.
Sanborn points out that “remarkable performers don’t practice to become perfect but to become better.” But “let’s face it,” he says, “practice sounds like something artists, athletes and actors do—not people in the everyday work world… The closest they come to it is a kind of ‘practice in process,’ based on the hope that the longer they do their job, the better they’ll get at it.”
Practice in process rarely works, says the author. He recommends being deliberate and intentional about our practice, figuring out what success will look like, and measuring every step of the way to see our improvement.
Further, Sanborn urges us to make time for the important things each day. “Few of us have time. We’re already busy… [but] practice is critical if you want to turn in a remarkable performance.”
Preparation and practice. There you have it. A couple of indispensable Ps for remarkable performances.
How do you prepare and practice? Please let me know in the comments here.
Please come back tomorrow to learn about the other Ps in remarkable performances. The miniseries is coming to an end soon, but I still have a few Ps I want to share with you.
ACTION
TODAY: Take some time to think: Where have you been winging it? That’s exactly the area of your life that needs deliberate practice.
FUTURE: Prepare to practice intentionally and deliberately in the area that you just identified. The more you prepare and the more you practice, the better results you’ll attain.