When it comes to an upcoming internal, exam, test, or sporting game the best thing you can do is prepare well. Preparing well sets you up for the best possible result or outcome.

Preparation doesn’t start from the night before the big day, it starts from weeks and months before hand. This does not mean long hours on the training field or late nights sitting there staring at your computer hoping that you will somehow take in what you are looking at. Preparation is one thing you can be completely in control of. To prepare well means you must have a set of valuable skills.

Being able to concentrate while studying or training is the most important. While on the training field or at the study desk you need to apply yourself 100%. Concentrate on what needs to be done. Whether it is the 1 minute it takes you to work out the answer or the 10 seconds to run through the drill. The 10-thousand-hour theory doesn’t mean you can go to a 1 hour long training, do 20 minutes of useful training and claim you have ticked off an hour of training. Sorry boys but it doesn’t work like that, you only get out what you put in.

Planning. Set yourself a plan for the study or the training. Make it very clear to yourself on what you are trying to achieve. What skills you want to get better at or what equations you need to know. Make sure you have a purpose for everything you do, so half way through you don’t ask yourself, ‘why am I doing this?'

The next valuable skill is time management or what I like to call keeping fresh. Keeping fresh means not stressing over the big day. Not over training or studying. Short studying stints and the term used by coaches ‘short and sharp’ trainings are much more beneficial. Keeping the negativity out of your head and not constantly telling yourself all the bad possible outcomes that may happen. Having something else to fall back on like your hobbies will help clear your head. The majority of professional athletes have had a hobby that they do in their mean time to help prepare for the big day.

Don’t let things get in the way of your preparation boys and make no excuses. Benjamin Franklin one of the founding fathers of the USA once said, ‘If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.’