Get your game face on. Do you have a game face? Do you know what that is? Game face is that look of focused determination that you see on athletes from Lebron James to Will Durant to Simone Biles to JP. Who’s JP? That’s my son. More about him later.
We all want to be successful. No one wakes up and says, “Gee, I hope I royally screw things up today.” We all want to be named among the best and the brightest. The hardest lesson for any any of us to learn is the one of discipline. The “D” word as I like to call it. This is especially true if, like me, you consider yourself of the creative mindset. Really. We creative types pride ourselves on being outsiders and, well…free.
The Catch-22 of that reality is that to be truly excellent at anything creative requires far more structure and yes, discipline, than most of us ever imagined. Actually, to be truly excellent at anything at all requires discipline. Discipline is what sets the true superstars apart from all the rest of us.
I am an expert in everything it takes to avoid discipline. I’ve personally authored nearly 1,000 excuses as to why I can’t get something done. Well, maybe not 1,000, but a lot. The truth is it’s much easier for me to utter an excuse than it is to admit that I just didn’t do the work I needed to in order to achieve the success I wanted.
So to help myself move forward and to achieve my dreams, I’m going to own my issue here, publicly, for all the world to read. Hi. My name is Matt. I am a recovering slacker. (Please don’t read that statement as lacking sensitivity. I am deeply sensitive to and respectful of what it takes to overcome any addictive behavior and those men and women who choose that path are perfect examples of what this post advocates.)
There are, from my perspective, research, and observation, 4 keys to breaking the slacker cycle. Each builds on the next.
Key #1: Discipline
Discipline is the foundation on which the other 3 keys will rest. Easy word to say, difficult habit to develop, and impossible trait to succeed without. If you want to be truly excellent, you have to be disciplined. Structured. Dare I say, organized?
There are those of you who are much more wired for this than others of us. (Notice what I did there?) Some people are just naturally more disciplined. Some people can eat the same thing for breakfast day in and day out with very few exceptions. Some that can schedule their day down to the minute and actually follow through on that schedule.
My son, JP, is a competitive athlete. During the track season, he is incredibly disciplined about what he eats, when he sleeps, what he drinks. Every decision he makes is in service to what will give him the best chance to perform well.
That’s the foundation – what is it going to take for you to perform at the highest possible level? Every choice you make must then serve to meet that goal. What is going to enable you to close the most deals? How will you ensure the highest performance from your team? What can you do today to ensure you hit your bonus at the end of the year? Those are the kinds of questions you need to be asking yourself every day. Then say yes to those things that move you forward and no to everything else. That’s what discipline looks like.
Key #2:Consistency
The next level is Consistency. Once you develop the discipline to work in service to your goal, whatever that is, next you need to work at it consistently. Not just for today or this week, but constantly.
The track season typically lasts from January to May. For those 4 odd months, my son is very consistent. He is in bed early, he is up with enough time to eat and allow that food to digest before he has to be at practice, he works on school work before and immediately after practice, he packs his water and snacks, he makes sure his uniform is washed, he warms up the same way, he cools down the same way, day in and day out. At practice he follows the program laid out for him by his coaches. He works it with the same intensity day in and day out. It’s hard work. He is generally exhausted by the time practice is done. When he doesn’t get something right in practice, he does it again.
This summer, he’s participating in a club team that competes in the Junior Olympics. At his very first practice with this new team, the coach gave them an exercise to do that consisted of running around the full track (400m) in 25m cycles of jog, sprint, float, walk. I noticed at one point that everyone else had stopped, but he was still going. On the way home I asked him about it he said, “Coach said to do 5, I did 5.” By inference, everyone else did not.
That’s discipline and consistency at work.
Key #3: Execution
The next rung up the ladder is execution, getting it done when it counts. Discipline and Consistency prepare you to execute well. You cannot expect to simply show up the day of a track meet and win. It doesn’t work like that. You have to put the hard work in to be ready to perform the day of the competition.
The same is true for you in your professional and personal pursuits. You can’t just decide to make a call one day and expect the potential client to buy what you’re selling. You have to be prepared. You can’t show up to the job interview and expect that they will hire you without first knowing as much as you can about the job and the company so that you can show you are genuinely curious and concerned.
This is the point where you just need to get it done. If you’ve developed the discipline to focus on what’s important and prepared consistently, then you are ready to execute flawlessly. And repeatedly. Over and over again. Rarely does one client call or one contract change the entire course of your business’ performance or lead to the dream job offer you are hoping for. Duplicate, duplicate, duplicate. Execution is the key that will unlock that door.
Key #4: Excellence
Discipline, consistency, and execution are what lead to excellence. Excellence is a result. It’s the tip of the iceberg. It’s the outcome. It comes last in our list because it comes last.
When Adele took the stage at Radio City Music Hall in the fall of 2015, she didn’t wake up that morning and say, “Hey, think I’ll go sing a bunch of new stuff tonight.” No – she worked at it in the rehearsal studio, the recording studio, and the stage long before the audience were in their seats and the TV cameras were plugged in. Simone Biles didn’t just wake up the best gymnast in the world. She executed flawlessly for a long time. Simone Manuel didn’t just show up that day to win her first gold medal in the pool. You get the picture.
Excellence comes from disciplined, consistent execution.
So the question for you is what do you need to do today to build that disciplined approach in your own life? Where have you faltered in your consistency and need to get back on track? What have you not pulled the trigger on that you need to?
Let’s get after it. So that you get to stand on the medal stand.
If you’re interested, this is JP (not what we call him). At the end of his season he captured 3 top 8 finishes in the State of Florida out of 4 events. He’s ranked nationally in those same 3 events. That’s excellence personified. Not that I’m biased or anything…
Look Deeper Solutions 