I spent an enjoyable 40 minutes earlier today talking on Facebook Live with one of my former players who now lives and works in California. Matt Stafford: if you’re reading this… “Thank You!” I appreciate the invitation to speak. It’s always a joy to share what wisdom the Lord has bestowed upon me over the years with others who are striving to be successful in their life.
Matt asked me to explain my “5 P’s of Success” axiom to his viewers. It forced me to dig a little deeper— in exploring exactly what PROPER preparation entails. Here are the thoughts that I came up with:
1- PRECISION. I talked about this in a previous post. It really impacted me while reading Coach Mike Leach’s book, Geronimo. If you are going to prepare properly, you must PAY ATTENTION TO DETAILS! I will quote (again) the statement from Coach Leach when he says in his book that “Anything that they wanted to be good at, they practiced and trained for with as much precision as possible.” Soooooo good!
2- PERSISTENCE. We give up too easily! When faced with obstacles that are impeding our progress, how do we respond? I shared on the show what I learned from Pastor Bill Hybels. He said that “most obstacles appear to be brick walls…. when in reality, most are made of tissue paper.” With a little persistence, we can often break through—- IF we will just stick to our plan!
3- PASSION. One of my high school coaches said something 55 years ago that still sticks with me. “Nothing great was ever accomplished without enthusiasm!” True! When we have a passion for something, it shows in all aspects of our work. We are going to focus on the little things. We are going to be persistent. We are going to be strategic in our planning. Our level of enthusiasm will dictate how far we go in achieving a goal. Another axiom that I’ve used a lot is “Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?!” (Appropriate as we wait out this pandemic!) A positive attitude is a by-product of the level of passion we possess. When you are passionate about achieving a goal, your energy level is high… your enthusiasm will capture other’s minds and propel them toward achieving the goal with you.
These are just 3 of the qualities that I believe explain what “proper” preparation looks like. I’d love to hear from you, my readers, to hear of any other qualities that you’ve discovered that go into making your preparation proper. The only requirement is: you have to be creative and only use words that start with “P“!!! OK??? Blessings, Lew
