The Best Practice is a Practice

Imagine Lance Armstrong stopping his spectacularly disciplined daily practice regimen and still hoping to win the Tour De France. Imagine Steve Nash giving up his crushing dialy workouts and post-game analyses and still expecting to be in his finest form. Just think about Sachin relaxing his extraordinary commitment to never-ending refinement and improvement of his game. Ridiculous, you say. And yet how many of us, on the playing field of business and life, are devoted to consistent daily practice? Few.

How can we get better if we do not practice? Success doesn’t just occur. Brilliant results don’t just show up by chance. The finest things in life take patience, focus and sacrifice. To get to world class, we need to work at it. Daily. Relentlessly. Passionately.

Just hoping we will get to be a great accomplisher (and human being) is nothing more than magical thinking. It’s a waste of time. Remember 1 percent wins. A few little improvements each day, the result of your daily practice, amount to staggering results over time. Athletes get better through practicing their sport. Great accomplishers get their by cultivating their craft. By elevating their skills. By deepening their impact. By consciously stepping towards their mountaintops. Until they get there.

“Brilliant results don’t just show up by chance. The finest things in life take patience, focus & sacrifice”

(these are not my thoughts J and are copied from Robin’s book)

Be So Good they can’t ignore you

Here’s comedian Steve Martin’s advise to young comics: “ Be so good they can’t ignore you” Love it. Life favors the devoted. The more you give to life, the more life sends back. It’s just not possible for you to be great at what you do, and not win in the end. (Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead once said, “ you do not merely want to be best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do”)

Sometimes discouragement sets in. Happens to all of us. We try hard, stay true to our dreams and pursue our ideals. Yet nothing happens. Or so it seems. But every choice matters. And every step counts. Life runs according to its own agenda, not ours. Be patient. Trust. Be like the stonecutter, steadily chipping away, day after day. Eventually, a single blow will crack the stone and reveal the diamond. An enthusiastic, dedicated person who is ridiculously good at what they do just cannot be denied. Seriously.

Steve Martin’s insight speaks to me deeply. “Be so good they cannot ignore you.” (Management guru Peter Drucker made the point slightly differently when he observed: “ Get good or get out”). Apply that philosophy at work. Apply it at home. Apply it in your community. Apply it to your world. Having the courage to present your gifts and your highest capacities will yield magnificent rewards. Life is always fair in the end. Trust it.

(these are not my thoughts J and are copied from Robin’s book)