Repeat and Practise

Think of any skill performed by a master and I will guarantee that they practise, practise and practise. Any movement or thought fires off neural pathways in the brain. Repeating a movement or thought strengthens the pathway so that it becomes easier to fire off. Ie the task becomes easier and more memorable.

5 things Sir Alex Ferguson recommends for success

Sir Alex Ferguson knows a thing or two about success. Ryan Giggs, probably his most successful player, had this to say about him, when he himself accepted a lifetime achievement award (The PFA Merit Award) in 2016.
“What Sir Alex always used to say was ‘enjoy it’. It was the last thing he said when you went out and played. Everything came with that obviously – improve every day, practise, listen, dedicate yourself – but most of all enjoy your football. That went for playing when I was 17 until when I was 40. It was a privilege to play at Old Trafford and I tried to enjoy it”
My biggest take-away is “Improve every day, practise, listen, dedicate yourself, but most of all enjoy it. So let’s dive right into these areas.

Improve Everyday

How does one go from novice to master, from mediocre to good? By improving. How do you improve by such a great amount if you are starting out? By improving every single day. And therefore how do you improve every day? By constantly analysing your results and questioning how you can make a tweak here and there.
The Japanese term Kiazen, is a manufacturing philosophy whereby the operative constantly challenges the processes to improve output. Each change, which you implement, is almost trivial; there are no massive restructures. But the minute changes compound over time, so that over the months and years, you make massive improvements. Over decades of Kaizen, it looks like miracles have happened.
You can use the same philosophy, in your personal development. You start with the philosophy that you will get slightly better today than you were yesterday. For instance if you made 10 cold calls yesterday, you will do 11 today. If you ran for 30 minutes today, run for 31 minutes tomorrow. Another way is to look at things that could be better, by moving bottlenecks.
How about looking at a common task that you do many times a week. Could you save them up and batch perform them on one single day? This will free up loads of spare time.
You can only get better everyday by practise.

Practise

Is there a skill you wish to perfect? Then practise makes perfect. What about a new habit you want to change or form, again practise makes perfect. After all, all skills and habits are subconsciously repeated actions. Physical skills are a blend of muscle memory and mental habits. Think of the maestro musician who effortlessly plays their violin. They seem at one with the thing. How do you think they got that good? Practise. Practise and practise some more. When should you practise? All the time and as much as you can. What if you don’t feel like practising? Then you should practise some more. It is through practising when you don’t feel like it, that makes you a champion.
In my sales profession, I think of my day-to-day job as practise. The sales calls I make are practise. I practise in the spirit of improving every day.
But practise what? Your mentors and coaches will tell you what and how. That’s why you should listen.

Listen

When somebody else knows better, it’s difficult to take constructive feedback. However repeatedly, I have read about or heard about successful people who had some mentor or coach, who gave them feedback. You can do two things with feedback – ignore it, because it’s painful to hear the truth, or listen and take it on board.
I’m sure you have heard of Sir Alex’s famous hair dryer treatment, where players who aren’t performing are lambasted. But what about all the small nuggets of wisdom he has imparted. The friendly hand-on-shoulder conversations where failings are gently brought to attention and alternative strategies suggested. Good players would be wise to listen, if they want to be great players.
You also need to listen and take on board the advice from qualified mentors. Who is a qualified mentor? That is someone who is already getting or has achieved the results you want.
What if the person advising you hasn’t achieved anything? Then be very careful. Are they qualified in any way to give you advice? Are they trained in the area in which you want to excel? Or are they further ahead on a similar journey? If they aren’t qualified to advise you in any way, then you can safely disregard their advice.

Dedicate Yourself

Sir Alex was correct in regards to dedication. In fact, you may remember the theme tune from the UK Record Breakers children’s TV program of the 1970s and 80s, with Roy Castle.
“If you want to be the best, if you want to beat the rest, dedication is what you need, if you want to be a record breaker”.
Ahh that takes me back.
It should be self-explanatory and common sense that you have to dedicate yourself to something to excel in it. But what does dedication mean? I think it means committing to something and sticking to it no-matter-what. When the times get tough, and they will, this is a test of your dedication. Dedication means doing the thing when you don’t feel like it. In the face of constant failure, you keep persevering because you are dedicated. When times get really hard – like when you write blog post after blog post and you only get 8 visitors a month to your website (with 100% bounce rate), you keep on going regardless. Eventually, The Law of Averages, God, The Universe or ‘something’ eventually relents and rewards you for your dedication.
What’s an easy way for you to dedicate yourself to something? To learn to enjoy it.

Enjoy It

Enjoyment is the key to it all. You start on a road because you think you might enjoy it or some positive expectation takes hold. Maybe you don’t always enjoy it but sometimes you do. I’m sure the Manchester United players didn’t always enjoy the result, but I’m sure they enjoyed every minute on the field. Those players from the class of ’92, who are all in their mid-forties, as I write today, would give their eyeteeth to be on that field of play once again.
So here’s my challenge to you in whatever endeavour you pursue. Become detached from the results but dedicate yourself to the practice and enjoy every minute of the game, whatever it is.
Enjoy it. One day you will look back on your success and wish you could have just one more game.