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If you’ve ever played a sport, musical instrument or participated in any similar pursuit that takes muscle memory, you know that improvement never occurs without practice. For example, let’s say you have been playing golf for 10+ years and you’re tired of your family and friends telling you what to do. You decide to hire a coach.
Your coach is going to ask you to show them your swing. They want to observe your style . After you swing the golf club several times, the coach begins to pick it apart. This is where some of my clients will give up.
Your subconscious tells you that if it doesn’t feel right or comfortable, it must be wrong. But if you take your golf coach’s advice and practice, suddenly your swing improves. Enhancing your influence is the same concept.
Being influential through your verbal and non-verbal communication Monday to Monday® requires deliberate practice. You can’t read how-to’s in a book or rely on your title and comfort level to be influential.
Harvard Business Review explained this concept of deliberate practice: “It entails considerable, specific, and sustained efforts to do something you can’t do well – or even at all. Research across domains shows that it’s only by working at what you can’t do that you turn into the expert you want to become.”
Related: Are You Really As Influential As You Think You Are?
Therefore, get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Feeling uncomfortable is a completely normal reaction any time we start practicing a new skill that is outside our comfort zone or beyond our current competence. How many people do you think stop practicing on enhancing their influence skills because it felt a bit awkward or uncomfortable? A lot!
This week, take on the four-step commitment!