3 ATTRIBUTES THAT HAVE HELPED ME BECOME A GLOBAL FORCE TO RECKON WITH

In the just-concluded Tokyo 2020 Olympics, many watched as athletes represented their countries and competed for the medals. As interesting as it was to watch, these athletes put years, months, days, and hours of practice into their sport. This is because they must compete with the best of the best worldwide; they cannot afford to be ill-prepared.

So many of us were not born with innate skills and talents, as it were. So, we must deliberately practice becoming excellent in what we do. I know some people were born with extraordinary talents, but if they do not deliberately practice honing those skills or talents, they may have wasted potential.

When people tell me I speak so well, or like one of my very close friends would say, “you are a smooth talker,” I tell them it has taken years of practice. I have not stopped; I am still growing and improving on myself. What am I trying to say? If you are going to be a master at anything meaningful in life and be the best in your arena of influence, you must employ “deliberate practice.”

Deliberate practice is being intentional about building on the knowledge, skills, and abilities to help you succeed in life. Like Anders Ericsson (a Swedish psychologist and Author of “The Road to Excellence”) says, to develop the kind of habits that will help you grow and stand out in life, it must be through deliberate practice.

There are 3 dimensions I have exercised to achieve this, myself:

1. Well- Defined Goals: It is essential to understand what you want to achieve and document them. For example, what kind of goals do I want to achieve? And what is my timeline? This would allow you to measure your progress and know what you still need to work on or improve upon to get to your goals. It will also provide a feedback loop for you.
2. Reverse Engineering: This is working your way backward. Ask yourself, what does my desired goal(s) look like? What do I need to achieve those goals? When you have identified what you need, you can then get the resources/help you need. One of the easiest ways to apply this is to study the best practices of others who have succeeded in your area and transfer/use them in your own context. This saves you time and money; you do not need to make the mistakes others have made. By following their work, reading about them, and adopting the lessons you have learned, you will save yourself the troubles they had to go through. You do not have to reinvent the wheel.
3. Efforts; Constant Efforts in fact: Deliberate practice requires hard work. As a mother, wife, doctoral student, and higher education professional, I can tell you that you must put in the work to succeed in life. When we see those athletes take home medals (Gold, Silver, and Bronze), you must understand that they have put in the time, effort, and work. As a business person/professional, how much effort do you put into growing your craft? How many books have you read about the growing trends in your field? What action have you put in concerning how to scale your business? How many workshops or training have you paid for (not just the free ones) to improve your knowledge and skills? Who are you deliberately “following,” or who is your coach? You must put in the work.

The research out there says it takes about 10,000 hours to be a master at anything. I challenge you to go beyond this. When you have clocked-in the 10,000 hours, do not stop there. You can be the master in your field and raise other masters, but it takes deliberate practice.

Mercy Umeri teaches Human Resources in Public and Nonprofit Organizations, and she is the MiniMPA coordinator for the Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs at Wichita State University, Wichita, KS United States. She is on Instagram as @mercy.umeri.