Strategic Discipline Blog

Sports figures often make a lot of money speaking to businesses about their achievements, the work, preparation and dedication to get there.

Sports and business have many things in common, yet there are many dissimilarities too!

One of the areas where business and sports are alike is preparation.

People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.

Jim Taylor, Ph.D., teaches at the University of San Francisco. His specialty is the psychology of business, sport, and parenting. Jim is a consultant to and has provided individual and group training to executives and businesses. A consultant to the United States and Japanese Ski Teams, the United States Tennis Association, and USA Triathlon Jim works with professional and Olympic athletes in tennis, skiing, triathlon, football, baseball, cycling, golf.

Business: Ten Laws of Prime Business Preparation by Taylor appeared in Psychology Today in 2010. I’d like to share some of Taylor’s ideas today.

Monday’s MMQB article by Peter King, Wristband 145: Behind The Play That Confused The Patriots and Gave The Eagles The Super Bowl LII Win, sums up the same topic with a focus on Super Bowl LII,  “A few years ago, doing a Bill Belichick profile for Sports Illustrated, I saw Belichick’s football library. At the time, the library was in Belichick’s Massachusetts home; now it’s housed in the library at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, where Belichick grew up. One of the books, Sun Tsu’s ‘The Art of War,’ seemed a curious inclusion. But Belichick was big on military metaphors. In this book, Sun Tsu wrote, ‘Every battle is won or lost before it’s ever fought.’”

The article illustrates how the Philadelphia Eagles players and coaches out prepared the New England Patriots.  It’s rare for anyone to out prepare Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.  Yet, that’s how they won Super Bowl LII.

Are you out preparing your competition?  Or is your competition out preparing you?

10 Laws of Business Preparation

Here is a brief synopsis of Taylors article, with examples of how Positioning Systems Strategic Discipline prepares you to be successful.

First Law: Preparation is the foundation of all business success. This preparation involves six important areas:

• Essential information (These include goals, plans, strategies, - One Page Strategic Plan)
• Task-specific knowledge and skills (R&D, finance, sales – Four Decision Tools, People, Strategy, Execution, Cash)
• Crucial resources and tools (e.g., experts, computer programs, data systems - Four Decision Tools, People, Strategy, Execution, Cash)
• Psychological and emotional capabilities (e.g., determination, confidence, resilience – People Decisions, FACe, PACe, Topgrading)
• Interpersonal skills (e.g., leadership, empathy, assertiveness, communication, inspiration, decisiveness, - Execution Decision, leadership Training, one on one Mentoring Meetings)
• Physical health (e.g., illness free, rested, well nourished, fit – One Page Personal Plan).

Second Law: Success comes from the days, weeks, and months of preparation leading up to the culmination of those efforts. If you've put in the time and effort to develop yourself and your team in the six areas I described in the first law, you will perform your best on your critical days. - Execution, Strategic Discipline, Without Top Priority “Whirlwind” Wins

Third Law: Three essential qualities necessary for business preparation and success are:

• Preparation takes time and you will experience many bumps along the road to Prime Business.
• Patience ensures that you realize that there are no shortcuts or easy roads to success.
• Persistence will get you to keep grinding away when you are tired, stressed, and bored.
• Perseverance will enable you to stay motivated and positive in the face of the inevitable obstacles and setbacks you will experience.

Fourth Law: Take responsibility for everything impacting your preparation and performance. Success is not a simple goal. To ensure you achieve your goals, take responsibility for everything to influence your efforts. Are you confident you have command over everything impacting how you perform in Prime Time?

Fifth Law: By identifying the six key areas from the First Law, you have a road map to achieve your goals. Education, training, experience, and teamwork help you develop all of these to ensure your complete preparation.

Sixth Law: Prime preparation requires a defined purpose, clear focus, and high energy every day.

• You must have a clear purpose that tells you precisely what you're working on.
• You must have a clear focus to consistently concentrate on the task to avoid distractions.
• You must have high energy to achieve prime preparation. Awareness and control of your energy, enable your mind and body to direct your efforts toward your defined purpose. Developing The Success Habit – Your One Thing

Seventh Law: How you perform day-to-day is how you perform in Prime Time. The best athletes don’t just rise to the occasion in Prime Time. What they do in Prime Time is no different than their everyday training. The same holds true for you in the business world.

Eighth Law: To be your best, you have to put a lot of time and effort into your preparations. Taylor call this the Grind, which involves having to put hours upon hours of time into your work, well beyond the point that it is fun and engaging. Don’t let the immediate negative aspects of your work override your long-term goals, perform your best and achieve your goals.  Build a Habit of doing what’s necessary to achieve.  When you hit the Grind, push harder. Essential Meeting Rhythms

Ninth Law: Prime Preparation comes from "one more thing, one more time." Assume most of your competitors are working hard to become the best they can be. If you want to prevail over them, you must ask yourself, "What can I do to get the edge over them?" Here is a simple rule I learned from Bernhard Russi, the 1972 Olympic downhill skiing champion: "One more thing, one more time." When you feel you’ve done enough, do just a little bit more. By doing one more thing, one more time, you are doing that little bit extra to prepare you for Prime Time and separate you from your competitors.

Tenth Law: All preparation is to prepare to perform your best in Prime Time. The great ones are great due to their ability to perform their best when it really counts. Prime preparation will allow you to achieve Prime Business in Prime Time, your equivalent of the Super Bowl, Olympics, or soccer World Cup.

Growth demands Strategic Discipline.

Positioning Systems is uniquely qualified, through Scaling Up to help your business and team be super prepared.

Positioning Systems helps mid-sized ($5M - $250M) business Scale-UP. We help you align everyone in your business to focus on Your One Thing!  To achieve growth, you need to evolve in today’s rapidly changing economic environment.  Are you avoiding a conversation with yourself on how to can grow your business? Contact dwick@positioningsystems.com to Scale Up your business! Take our Four Decisions Needs Assessment to discover how your business measures against other Scaled Up companies. We’ll contact you.

Next Blog – A Social Media Lesson – Thank You Tom Reid

I make mistakes. Thursday a Twitter follower I’d just gained, responded to my thank you for connecting message.  He took offense to it stating, I was trying to sell something to each other BEFORE we have any relationship. I made my 2^nd mistake by responding in knee jerk fashion. That story, what I learned, and why I need to thank him lesson, next blog.