So, how can you use the Peyton Manning/Warren Buffet success strategy we outlined in the previous blog? Here’s how:

• Find the niches where you can be the best or one of the best at what you offer. Position your offer and market with highly specific targeting.
• Prepare like Manning to be your best mentally, physically and emotionally and you’ll win more.
• Study the processes of your teams and of others. Continually break down what you do, why and how you do it and find ways to improve. Complacency will kill you.
• Job searchers. Prepare mentally, physically and emotionally for interviews. Learn about the organization you would like to work for. Find a problem the organization has that you can help solve.

If you want to be great, or greater than you are today, use the success strategies of the masters. It will accelerate your success!

I was speaking with a top junior figure skater, who told me, “Sometimes, for competitions, I skate great and nail all my jumps effortlessly and sometimes I don’t and I don’t know why.”

After examining further, she realized that she competed best when she was the first one to skate after the warm-up session. In figure-skating competitions, skaters warm up in small groups. They are randomly assigned to skate first, second, third, etc., the warm-up. This young women skated her worst competitions when she went last after the warm-up because she was technically unprepared.

Using a combination of stretching exercises, running in place on her skates, and moving her body as she imagined going through a routine helped to keep her in control, and her mind and body prepared for the routine.

This solved her competitive inconsistencies. It no longer mattered when she skated after her warm-up; she had a pre-event routine that allowed her to always show up, ready!

Here are the routines of some top athletes:

• Phil Mickelson, a top-ranked professional golfer for many years, performs a highly practiced, multi-step pre-shot routine before he takes a shot in a competition.
• Before a race, Lindsey Vonn, Olympic winner of three medals in women’s skiing in the 2010 Olympics, creates a mental image of skiing the most perfect run she can.
• Kobe Bryant (MVP of the 2009-2010 NBA finals) always does exactly the same routine before every free throw.

Why do world-class athletes work to perfect pre-event and pre-shot routines? Because they perform better when they do.

What’s your pre-routine? If you lead, sell, or manage, do you have a routine to be your best? How about when you speak to groups, lead a meeting, go on an interview, or make a critical phone call? Are you more likely to knock ’em dead, or to wish you were dead due to fear and embarrassment?

If great athletes in all sports use routines to get their minds and bodies maximally prepared for success, how come most of us don’t use routines to help us be more confident, courageous and relaxed?

For questions about this post or for information on becoming a fearless leader, contact Dr. Cathy Greenberg and The Fearless Leader Group at (888) 320-1299 or by email at hello@fearlessequalsfreedom.com.