Did you prepare? Did your preparation have a goal, a purpose? Maybe you had a test in school? A sales-call on a client? An interview for a new job? An interview of a magazine article or online blog? A prospecting phone call? One thing all of these situations have in common is preparation. We celebrate the result, and the results do matter, but have you heard the saying, “What gets measured gets done, so be careful what you measure?”

If you mainly emphasize results, you over emphasize luck and win at all cost. I think we can agree these attitudes led to Enron, Worldcom, and too-big-to-fail financial crisis. What if we emphasize the preparation, celebrate a well-prepared effort? I’m sure the cynic in the room would still sneer and say, “who cares?”. I do believe if you focused on the preparation, then you could build a predictable, repeatable process. People like us, prepare like this.

The culture at work could center around hard work, preparation, and checklists. You could reduce your reliance on luck. You could predict the odds of winning based on the degree of preparation.

For a job interview, I could ask if your resume and cover letter are unique to this position? Did you think up STAR stories that fit this company’s expectations? STAR is a story model that stands for: Situation, Task, Action, Result. The key is the result. Did you prepare 3 to 5 great result stories that highlight your experience? Did you have an answer to, “Tell me about yourself?”, or are you just going to wing it?

What about a test in school? Did you make flashcards a few days in advance and have the definitions, formulas, concepts down cold? Did you practice application? Read the material? Review with a classmate? Granted a lot depends on the subject, but I believe we all agree steps can be taken to be ready. You will have dozens of tests, and you can add preparation steps as you learn from mistakes.

What about interview questions? Can questions be prepared in advance? Can you have written the story in advance and then organized questions that would be needed for the story to unfold? Can you frame the questions better? Much like I’m asking now? What has to be true for you to do better tomorrow than you did last time? How did you plan to prepare? What special steps did you take to give yourself the advantage? Do you rely on hard work or luck? How do you measure the level of work? What have you learned over the years that can help others chase their dreams like you did?

Even producing this podcast has me energized for tomorrow. What can I do tonight before bed to setup tomorrow morning for success? What price am I willing to pay? What’s too much? Am I willing to forego a little sleep? Should I be sleep deprived? Can I control the day? What’s more in my favor the first hour or two or the last couple of hours? When a day goes wrong what has normally been the reason? What can I do this time to avoid the most common reasons?

I’m going to go out on a limb and claim few days have surprises? Some do, but it’s few. Plan for the majority of the days without surprises and in most cases, you can forgive yourself when you do get a surprise – the first time. The second time you should know better. Do you learn? Are you capable of learning? I don’t believe in natural born anything, but I do know some people have to put in more effort over a longer period of time to get the same result as others. Look in the mirror and be honest. The answer is acceptable. You must know where you are to get where you want to go. Does this make sense? Start small, start now and don’t quit.

Come with me. I have big plans for Nov 9th! Day 101.