{"id":450,"date":"2025-12-17T13:18:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T13:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/17\/your-commitment-to-preparation-positions-you-for-sustained-success\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T13:18:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T13:18:31","slug":"your-commitment-to-preparation-positions-you-for-sustained-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/17\/your-commitment-to-preparation-positions-you-for-sustained-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Commitment to Preparation Positions You for Sustained Success"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style='display:none;' class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Your Commitment to Preparation Positions You for Sustained Success' data-link='https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/your-commitment-to-preparation-positions-you-for-sustained-success\/' data-app-id-name='category_above_content'><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">By Matthew Mitchell<\/h2>\n<p>A great career in sports or business is never based on one outcome or result alone, or even a handful of them. Real success should never be defined by short-term results.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Before my recently landed role as coach of the University of Houston\u2019s women\u2019s basketball team, I was the head coach of the University of Kentucky women\u2019s basketball team for 13 seasons. It was a terrific ride that included three visits to the Elite 8 of the NCAA tournament, a Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship, and three SEC coach of the year awards. Of course, like any team, we learned all about game winning shots that refused to fall. It\u2019s part of basketball and is bound to happen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>At heart, I\u2019m a coach, whether it be basketball, business, or life. And what a coach always wants to do is make a real impact on lives.&nbsp;As a coach I\u2019ve also found that preparation is key to success. No amount of talent or performance under pressure is going to save you unless you\u2019ve put in the work that translates into maximum preparation.<\/p>\n<p>While a well-prepared leader and his team may lose individual battles, overall, a consistently prepared team literally can\u2019t lose. Focused, constant preparers achieve sustained success.<\/p>\n<p>When you\u2019re around greatness, what you see is&nbsp;the<em>&nbsp;consistency<\/em>. I suppose you could call that a secret to success, but I don\u2019t think of it as some mysterious code. There isn\u2019t some otherworldly knowledge that\u2019s been cracked by the great coaches. Instead, it\u2019s their everyday habits. It\u2019s believing in being the best prepared person on the court, or at the office, or on a sales call. Wherever you ply your craft, if you do that, it\u2019s going to lead to amazing success.<\/p>\n<p>Any journey to sustained success is centered around great preparation. And great preparation is broken into two parts. The first part is about the mindset you need to develop. The second involves a three-step method to achieve championship-level preparation.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s start by unpacking the mindset necessary for success:<\/p>\n<p>Imagine a mindset as a filter you put on your thought processes. A healthy mental filter is one that screens out unproductive thoughts and keeps you grounded in reality.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mindset Exercise:<\/strong>&nbsp;Pay close attention to the conversation going on in your head. Over the next week, make a conscious effort to look at how you process challenges that arise.&nbsp;Take note of&nbsp;how much time you spend complaining, either out loud or in your head. How much time do you spend worrying about circumstances that you can\u2019t control? Do you work through problems piecemeal, as if you\u2019re fighting one brush fire after another?<\/p>\n<p>If these are your habits of mind, you\u2019re convincing yourself that circumstances outside your control are in charge of your life instead of you.<\/p>\n<p>The way out is to stop the negative thoughts. Interrupt those thought<\/p>\n<p>patterns and retrain your brain in new habits. Tell yourself, \u201cEnough!\u201d By paying attention, you can choose different thoughts. It just takes some effort.<\/p>\n<p>Next, the steps to achieve championship-level preparation involve:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Getting crystal clear on your goals.<\/strong>&nbsp;Think of a clear goal as a lens that helps you better see what\u2019s a useless diversion versus what\u2019s a positive change or addition. Goal clarity also gives you energy and excitement. As you set your goal, however, you want to be realistic and reasonable. Do this using the SMART framework \u2013 make your goal Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. This leads to accountability.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Creating a strategy for preparing to meet those goals<\/strong>. It\u2019s crucial to put as much thought into the milestone accomplishments as it is to your overall preparation goal. The key is to use reverse engineering. Walk back step by step to determine what it takes to arrive at that goal.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Executing the details of your preparation strategy.<\/strong>&nbsp;One way to set out accomplishing your goal of excellent preparation is to set short-term, incremental subgoals that are do-able. Subgoals create a chain of preparation steps that lead you to the doorstep of your main goal \u2014 achieving success.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The most successful leaders don\u2019t fly by the seat of their pants. They recognize that they have to lift their preparation game or they\u2019ll fail. Follow their lead to raise your game by homing in on and refocusing your mindset, and defining and carrying out a strategy to achieve your goals.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s amazing what you can do for yourself professionally and personally when you\u2019re a master of preparation. You separate yourself in a way that gives you confidence and sustained success.<\/p>\n<p>*&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;*<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Mitchell is a&nbsp;<em>Wall Street Journal<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>USA Today&nbsp;<\/em>best-selling author, speaker, three-time SEC Coach of the Year, and the winningest head coach in the history of the University of Kentucky women\u2019s basketball program. He now coaches the University of Houston\u2019s women\u2019s division 1 basketball team. Mitchell\u2019s book,&nbsp;<strong><em><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Ready-Win-Leaders-Succeed-Preparation\/dp\/B0DK2Q49V9\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ready to Win:<\/a><\/u><\/em><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Ready-Win-Leaders-Succeed-Preparation\/dp\/B0DK2Q49V9\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;<\/a><\/u><em><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Ready-Win-Leaders-Succeed-Preparation\/dp\/B0DK2Q49V9\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How Great Leaders Succeed Through Preparation<\/a><\/u><\/em><\/strong>&nbsp;(Winning Tools, November 19, 2024)<em>&nbsp;\u2014<\/em>&nbsp;a&nbsp;<em>USA Today&nbsp;<\/em>bestseller \u2014 shares proven principles that lead to resilience, preparation, and growth. Learn more at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coachmatthewmitchell.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.coachmatthewmitchell.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"427\" height=\"640\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47457 lazyload\" sizes=\"(max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AUTHORheadshot_Matthew-Mitchell-427x640.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AUTHORheadshot_Matthew-Mitchell-427x640.jpg 427w, https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AUTHORheadshot_Matthew-Mitchell-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AUTHORheadshot_Matthew-Mitchell-640x960.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AUTHORheadshot_Matthew-Mitchell.jpg 800w\"><\/figure>\n<div style='display:none;' class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='share_buttons' data-title='Your Commitment to Preparation Positions You for Sustained Success' data-link='https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/your-commitment-to-preparation-positions-you-for-sustained-success\/' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'><\/div>\n<div style='display:none;' class='shareaholic-canvas' data-app='recommendations' data-title='Your Commitment to Preparation Positions You for Sustained Success' data-link='https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/your-commitment-to-preparation-positions-you-for-sustained-success\/' data-app-id-name='category_below_content'><\/div>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\/your-commitment-to-preparation-positions-you-for-sustained-success\/\">Your Commitment to Preparation Positions You for Sustained Success<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mscareergirl.com\"><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Matthew Mitchell A great career in sports or business is never based on one outcome or result alone, or even a handful of them. Real success should never be defined by short-term results.&#160;&#038;#46<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-productivity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etabc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}