Well Well Well
I happened to be listening to the radio when the latest missive from that famous and hugely successful American philosopher Parton (Dolly) was released. For some reason, one line from this song has been re-playing in my mind all morning. The line? …..
’you can’t get the water without digging the well’.
Yes, its simplistic, but isn’t it true throughout our lives – whatever we want to achieve we needed to work at it?
But then the question always comes up ….. but for how long?
Psychologist Anders Ericsson suggested it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert (a theory was brought to the business world by Malcolm Gladwell in his great book ‘Outliers’ which I highly recommend).
But what if you don’t want to be an ‘expert’, you just want to be very good?
Dedicating 10,000 hours is probably out of the question for the majority of us – over 5 years of normal working hours may have an impact on our income.
However, being prepared to dedicate at least some time to achieve success is vital.
The Presentation World
If you were to ask me how many times have I seen people leave presentations till the last minute and then expect them to be great…..too many!
Over reliance on the support acts (powerpoint, autocue, inserted films) is sadly on view every day in most organisations. As an audience we perhaps have come to expect mediocre most of the time. I’m sure you have instantly forgotten many (if not most) of the presentations you have seen down the years.
So, if your start point is needing success, why not make a resolution right now to allow time to dig your well?
It doesn’t need to be 10,000 hours – a couple of hours a week in the months or weeks leading up to the presentation will have an effect – I promise!
Yes indeedee…
And as the ex-DJ in me would say – You don’t have to work ‘9 to 5’ or wear a ‘coat of many colours’ to ‘imagine’ success, just realise ‘you’re the only one’ who can ‘shine’ by making it the first (rather than) ‘last thing on your mind’ and getting the reaction from your audience – ‘I will always love you’.
Go dig that well…….
