“You’ve got to see the next game as far more important than the last game. If you have the will to prepare, things will usually work out quite well, and the will to win will take care of itself.” Bud Wilkinson, Record holding NCAA coach
I was reading a chapter in the Leadership Game by Tom Mullins and came across this story about the focus on preparation.
Preparation does precede momentum. I’ve always thought of momentum as being one success followed by another. When you get down to the root of each of those successes, preparation was the key. And if you start winging it, based on past successes, diligent preparation will wain, and eventually, so will wins. Being a “victim” of your own success is basically counting on past successes to create future ones. No matter how many successes you have had, you need to prepare for the next one.
Here are three ways you can prepare for momentum and success:
Make every play count: No matter how small the detail, it counts toward building momentum. Leaders just can’t leave managing details to chance. You have to develop the systems, the people and the plans for the details to be covered. The effects of details falling through the cracks is a break in momentum. When the little things are in place, the big things come together.
Keep the vision in front: One of the best motivators for teams is success. When we’ve seen it work and when we know what we want our end product to be, there is a level of motivation and momentum that leads the team there. We need to keep the vision (end product) out in front of our team. Preparing for this requires knowing the vision, knowing the plan for getting there and gathering your team to begin moving that direction.
Make team expectations clear: In sports, team roles are quite defined. That’s not always the case in other aspects of life. A wise leader, at any level, will help set the expectations for their team so members not only know what they are supposed to do, but what goals they need to achieve to get there.
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I wing it all the time. That has to change. Thank you for sharing.
confession is always good! thanks for reading.