I want to talk about practice. Not the game, not the game we all love but practice.

Practice can be anything preparing us for the “game”. Thinking, reading, studying, and testing.

Getting uncomfortable.

Trying to imagine situations and getting ahead of them.

In practice, we break down a specific area and piece them together. We work on one aspect hard and then move on to another. There are also times when practice becomes a simulation of sorts. A run-through of an event that hasn’t taken place.

In the game, far too often we “wing it”. We show up unprepared for the conversations or the action we need to perform.

We think that just being there is enough. It’s not.

Being thoughtful about where we want to go can be the guidebook to prepare us for that journey. It can influence the things we do leading up to and during any situation.

But we have to be willing to put in the work. That’s how we make things feel fluid and easy. It’s all the hours of preparation prior to the game.

That preparation sets us up for success. That leads us to make better decisions at the moment.

Because we’ve already been preparing long before the moment arrived.