How I kick my own butt into gear with preparation & repetition
It may seem like overkill to write a word-for-word script for an hour-long, 131-slide presentation.
Many people will just “wing it,” or at the very least make bullet-points to help them improvise.
But not me. I did in fact write an entire script for next week’s free masterclass.
I did this for a number of reasons:
- It makes the class better. People take time out of their busy days to attend my webinars, in the hopes of learning something. I want to make that time valuable.
- It makes it repeatable. I have a script to rehearse the webinar. If I decide to do this webinar again at some point in the future, I’ll also have a script to work from.
- It makes improvement easy. I’ve already rehearsed the webinar once, and I’ll be rehearsing it at least one more time. Each time, I can make specific changes and have a rock-solid way to implement those changes (a script).
- It saves mental energy. When it comes to self motivation, this is THE MOST IMPORTANT reason. Actually, none of the above reasons work without this reason.
Preparation saves mental energy.
Sometimes it’s tough to motivate yourself to do things, even when you work for yourself. You might beat yourself up about it, but it’s actually because your brain is smart: It doesn’t want to waste energy.
When you prepare, you save energy. Holding a webinar takes a ton of energy, especially if you have some introverted tendencies like I do. Preparing allows me to use energy now to save energy later.
For example, for everything I do in my business more than once, I make a checklist. Here’s my checklist for setting up for a webinar.
(This list is about two or three times longer than what you see here).
I have enough stuff to worry about when I’m preparing to give a class. There’s no point in using mental energy to try to remember what I need to do. Many months may have passed since I’ve given a class, so I’ll have to think hard to try to remember, and I know I’ll forget something.
I know from experience that thinking about the mental energy required to try to remember will be enough to prevent me from giving another class at all. So, I make it easier on myself with a checklist.
Preparation takes repetition.
If a less-experienced version of myself saw this webinar script and checklist, he would be overwhelmed. There are so many things to consider when holding a live webinar: Setting up the technology and ensuring it works, writing the emails and getting out the word. Just putting together 131 slides is a TON of work.
Who has the energy to write a presentation script word-for-word? And how do you know what to put on the checklist?
I didn’t reach this level overnight. I’ve held several webinars. Each step of the way I learn new things: I figure out the technology, I design the email sequences, I design the slides.
Sometimes I mess up. I’ve had at least one webinar that went terribly wrong. It was a learning experience that I don’t want to repeat.
Each time, I learn something new. The next time, that stuff is second-nature. When the basics are second-nature, you can build upon that knowledge, learn again, and improve once again.
Preparation leads to learning.
If I ever give live webinars on a regular basis, I won’t need all of the preparation I’ve put in place. I might ditch the script, or I might not need the checklist. Giving webinars could become as easy for me to do as brushing my teeth.
But that’s not where I’m at. The preparation I’ve put into other parts of my business have built the learning that even makes it possible to hold live webinars. I’ve learned about sound equipment and writing and email marketing and storytelling. Some of that stuff comes very easily now, but only because of the preparation and repetition I used in the past.
Learn more of my self-motivation tactics in next week’s webinar.
Making it on your own takes a lot of self motivation. Your mental energy becomes your most precious resource. You can’t rely on “willpower.” You have to manage your mental energy.
The preparation you make now lets you focus your energy later.
I’ll talk more about how to fuel self motivation in next week’s class. I’ll be sharing my top tactics from ten years on my own.
