Great workers always prepare properly before doing a piece of work. They do lots of research – including clarifying the real results to achieve – and rehearse properly. They then do their best to achieve the desired results.
Such a worker may be running a mentoring session, leading a workshop or helping people in another way. They may be doing a project, tackling a challenge or aiming to achieve a specific goal.
Imagine that you want to prepare properly before doing a piece of work. This can involve focusing on the following themes.
Research
The first step is to do lots of research. The following section provides some themes you may explore when gathering information. But much depends, of course, on the kind of work you aim to do.
Different people will explore different questions when doing different kinds of work, but the aim will be to prepare properly. This helps to provides a platform for achieving success.
Good mentors, for example, often do lots of research about a mentee before their first meeting. This includes focusing on what may be happening in that person’s world and the challenges the person may wish to explore.
Sometimes this also means looking at the person’s background. This includes finding out more about their strengths, their successful style of working and their possible aspirations.
Different mentors do this in different ways. Here is one framework that some mentors follow to prepare for a session.
Let’s assume that you have done lots of research before doing a piece of work. If appropriate, you may then take the next step.
Rehearsal
Imagine that you have clarified the strategies you want to follow when working towards your goal. It can then be useful to rehearse: a) how to translate these into action; b) how to manage any challenges you may meet along the way.
Charles Garfield, the author of Peak Performers, described how many great workers rehearse before going into their version of the arena. The National Business Association produced a summary of his views on mental rehearsal in one of their newsletters. Here is an excerpt from that piece.
Peak performers practice mental rehearsal. They rehearse, in their mind’s eye, any incident or event that is important to them.
Business executives can benefit by rehearsing specific events in the mind’s eye, including all those possible outcomes and possible surprises that can materialise. This mental practice can build familiarity and boost confidence and self-esteem.
Great workers in many fields take this approach. Wayne Rooney, the former footballer, explained what he did before his team had an away fixture and needed to change the colours of their kit. Speaking in an interview with ESPN, he said:
“Part of my preparation is I go and ask the kit man what colour we’re wearing – if it’s red top, white shorts, white socks or black socks.
“Then I lie in bed the night before the game and visualise myself scoring goals or doing well. You’re trying to put yourself in that moment and trying to prepare yourself, to have a ‘memory’ before the game.
“I don’t know if you’d call it visualising or dreaming, but I’ve always done it, my whole life.”
There are many approaches to mental rehearsal. Here is a summary of one approach.
Let’s assume that you have done your research and rehearsed following your chosen strategies. At this point you may feel that you have prepared properly. It may then be time to focus on the next step.
Results
Great workers move into action. They are fully present and focus on the task in hand whilst also working towards their longer-term goals. Such people sometimes take the following steps.
They follow their chosen strategies and aim to deliver high professional standards;
They keep reading reality, find solutions to challenges and focus on continuous improvement;
They do their best to achieve the desired results and then sometimes add that touch of class.
Great workers are more able to take these steps if they have prepared properly. That involves doing lots of research and rehearsing following their chosen strategies. This can lay the groundwork for achieving success.
Let’s return to your own life and work. Looking ahead, can you think of a situation where you may want to follow elements of the preparing properly approach? How can you do this in your own way?
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to complete the following sentences.
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