Leadership guru, John C Maxwell says:
“Spectacular performances are always preceded by unspectacular preparation”
I like the way he uses the word ‘always’ in this quote because it gives a guarantee that this is consistently the case, no ifs or buts. This is what I call a natural law. In other words a certain outcome being guaranteed by certain actions. John Maxwell calls this a law too. He calls this one – The Law of Process. It is one which many of us love to hate as it reminds us that success is not easy. It takes time and effort and there is no getting around that. It is the consequence of the little boring daily steps of disciplined preparation and practice.
The Law of Process says that spectacular performances don’t happen by accident. We can’t out of the blue, stumble upon a world class performance of Beethoven’s Für Elise having had no previous experience of any musical instrument. Our teenagers cannot just pick up a car key and pass a driving test even though they have had experience of watching us drive them around for 18 years or so! It doesn’t matter whether you are a business, athlete or musician, the answer is the same: outstanding success can’t happen without the process of preparation.
You may begin to wonder, this is so obvious, isn’t it? Why call something an ancient secret when it is so plain obvious in everyday life? Well, as my mum would always say, “common sense is not always common”. I call this law ancient because this has always been the case throughout human history and will continue to be the case now and in the future. I call it secret because though it is a principle known by many, only relatively few understand it enough to apply it to their endeavours. The fact that relatively few achieve outstanding results in their pursuits is enough proof that the workings of this principle remains a mystery to many of us. However, in each generation, the few that grasp this concept achieve outstanding performances.
What unspectacular preparation are you going to make today to achieve spectacular results tomorrow?