How To Be World Class At Anything You Want.
Achieving success is not complicated.
Good morning Friends,
It’s this weekend every year I have a reunion with my best buddies from university; a weekend I thoroughly look forward to. There is much laughter, heaps to catch up on, and generally just enjoy being surrounded by great people.
As I write this, I would be lying if I said I was firing on all cylinders today.
I don’t drink much at the best of times, so even a couple of beers can cause me a to have a serious hangover (yes, I’m a cheap date!)
Was it worth it? Absolutely.
Since the pandemic hit the world like a wrecking ball, it has made us appreciate things we took for granted.
One of those things is seeing people.
Whether it’s seeing family, friends or colleagues, just being able to hug, interact and spend time IRL (in real life as my nephews told me) with them is so important. To be able to do that with the chaps yesterday, is something I hold very dear.
The hangover, less so.
But they mean the world to me, so it’s worth it.
Lightbulb Moment
When it comes to achieving success, many believe it is down to a plethora of complex activities intertwined with some sort of secret formula.
Thankfully it’s much simpler than that.
When success is the objective, breaking down the goal into smaller parts is the first step. What previously felt like an overwhelming endeavour, can fast become more manageable.
It is within these smaller constituent parts that the real work begins.
But not in the way you are probably thinking.
The special forces have adopted a saying (originally by ancient Greek poet Archilochus):
“We don't rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training.”
This implies that when the going gets tough, we revert to what we have learned and subsequently trained for. That’s why the special forces place such an emphasis on the training. It is, quite literally, their life line.
For those of us not in mortal danger, we should still apply the same approach.
If everything we do is made up of lots of little actions, we should decided which of these actions are most important. And then focus on them.
For example, if you are sales person and being punctual at your next appointment is critical to your success, you should become ‘world class’ at being on time. It sounds silly but this is entirely in your control.
The repetition through training yourself to arrive at each meeting 5 mins early (which really means not leaving the house at the last minute) will become second nature.
Then on the days when everything goes completely wrong, you can rely on yourself to be on time to your meeting / appointment / collecting the kids etc.
You don’t have to think about it. It comes naturally.
If making your bed each morning is an integral part of the day, then you should become world class at bed making. In fact, at Sandhurst, the British Army does exactly that.
There are certain activities we all need to do to perform at our best; whether it be sports, business, teaching or parenting these activities underpin our ability to be achieve excellence.
Don’t forget, excellence is a relative term, as it is not a way to compare yourself to others, but to give you a focus on being the best you can be.
So in your situation, does success for you rely on:
Being on time? Become world class at being punctual.
Being fit? Become world class (for you) at the gym
Being knowledgeable? Become world class (for you) on your subject
Being a great parent? Become world class (for you) on spending quality time with your child.
You don’t actually have to be world class, but the principle applies.
It is the performing of ‘basic’ tasks in a world class manner that will elevate the chances of success.
This principle was established by the world renowned rugby Coach Ian McGeechan, in explaining that success is not that complicated. Through coaching rugby at the highest levels he identified that the ability to do the basics, even under the greatest pressures, led to increased success. (For more details, check out High Performance by Jack Humphrey)
As he put it:
“When someone needs to know what to do to improve, I want them to think about who is the best at that task and then ask themselves what would they be doing in this situation? Then do it, whatever it is.”
That’s it.
Identify the tasks which are critical to your success and focus on those. Become the best you can be at them.
It won’t be easy and will take time, but it will be worth it.
Whatever your goal is, good luck, I know you’ll be great.
Now go and be world class.
Cheers,
-Bren