Are You Built for the 4th Quarter?

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Prices vary based on how you buy. Are you built for the fourth quarter? Are you going to be there when everyone else is tired, when everyone else foggy brain, when they're worried about outcomes and they're thinking about how people who's watching them and what people are going to say and they start to slip, they start to falter, they can't move as fast, they

can't make the same sharp decisions, when the pressure of the moment starts to weigh on them,

and that excellence, that greatness they may have shown in the first quarter starts to crack,

you start to see holes in it, they start to fall apart. I'm not just talking about sports,

in business, right, in our lives, are you built for that fourth quarter? Let's go. Yeah, make it look, make it look, make it look easy.
Hey, stand up guy, boom, 10 toes. Big body pull up in a range.
I could chase the whole game when I say so. Are you going to be there? Is that when you shine? Is that when you set yourself apart? is that when you break from the pack? When you stand alone, when the spotlight shines on you? Is that your moment? Or are you just going to be another person gasping air on the sidelines, hoping that the outcome of the game goes your way, right? And again, I'm not just talking about sports.
I'm particularly talking about business because so often, whether it's projects or it's just the course of a evolutionary experience through entrepreneurship, getting from zero to escape velocity, escape velocity to that next level, that defining level, that sustainable level of growth, or you're looking to exit your business, all of these things, right?

All of these things have seasons inside of them, quarters inside of them, moments inside of them. And far too few of us are built for the fourth quarter.
You look at the greats in any sport and no one cares what happens on a basketball court at the tip. They care about Michael Jordan in the fourth quarter with 102 fever.
That is what people care about. That is what defines you as a professional.
That is what defines you as a person. Are you built for the fourth quarter? So how do we make sure that we are, right? How do we put ourselves in a position to be built for that fourth quarter? You have to be prepared.
It's all about preparation. Nothing you can do in that moment is going to allow you to break from your preparation.
If you're underprepared, that's where you're going to go. That's as high as you're going to be.
You are going to fall to your preparation. That is where you're going to end up.
In the fourth quarter, when you're gassed, when your willpower is gone, when you are falling back on built-in systems, processes, discipline, your preparation is all that matters. So how do we, what happens when we're prepared? What happens when we do that extra work? We take those extra laps on the track or we read that book.

We watch this presentation.

We go through and actually do dry runs of our presentation before we step on stage.

Maybe we walk through some cold call examples before we make a call to a big client.

Or if we have a sales presentation, we're working with a colleague and going back and forth and doing some role playing.

All of that preparation.

When you're in the moment, you are going to fall to your preparation. So what is the advantage to being prepared? Well, I came up with a little acronym for this, right? And it's pretty simple.
When we're prepared, we are present. That means we're not thinking about what we should do or what we shouldn't do.
We're able to be right in that moment. When we're prepared, we are in that moment.
Am I going to be able to run fast? Yes, I'm prepared. Am I going to be able to make this decision? Yes, I'm prepared.
Will I be able to adapt on the fly? Yes, I'm prepared. We are able to be present when we are prepared.
The R, resourceful. When you're prepared, you're not thinking about what you should be doing.
You're looking for opportunities to get ahead. You're able to see the gaps in a certain situation or when someone you're negotiating against slips up.
You're able to think past those moments, around those moments, and act in a resourceful way because you're already prepared for the standard things that are going to happen in that moment. When we're prepared, we can walk into every situation with an empty cup, as Bruce Lee would say.
We're able to walk into that situation with our mind, not already knowing all the answers, but we're able to react. And this goes back to the being present thing to whatever happens in that moment.
We don't, we haven't committed to a course that has to happen or we're not successful. We're able to engage in the moment with an empty cup, take in all the variables as they come to this.
All of a sudden, a buyer of one of your products decides to lowball you an offer or ask for something in a contract that you didn't see coming. Well, if you only had and had only prepared for one scenario or or if you only had ever sold in one particular way, and you're not empty, you're not open in that moment to all the different stimuli, all the different pieces of information that are coming to you, because you believe you already know how something's going to go, then you're going to lose that deal.
We want to be present, we're able to be resourceful and we can approach everything with emptiness. When we're prepared, we have a process.
We're able to work that process and we're able to work it on autopilot. Oftentimes people fall apart in the fourth quarter, this idea of the fourth quarter, because their willpower runs out and they no longer able to sustain discipline because they're not operating off of a base process.
They're trying to make every single decision as it comes up and we cannot sustain that. Eventually, over the course of time, through the grind of whether it's business or life or sports, we are going to get beat because we don't have a process.
Preparation builds a process that allows us to only use our willpower in the moments that we actually need it. If we're prepared, we're accountable, right? We know where we're supposed to be when.
We know what our responsibility is in this negotiation, on this team, in our family. We're able to be accountable when we're prepared.
When we're prepared, we're resilient. When something happens that we didn't see happening and we are knocked back on our heels, because we're prepared, because we have a process, because we have a store of willpower, because we are able to be resourceful and present and we are taking in all the stimuli in that moment, we can easily pivot.
We can react. We can move in another direction.
We can ask a question that we wouldn't otherwise been able to see. When we're prepared, we have energy because we're not using brain cycles.
We're not using energy that we would have to expend on things that otherwise we would have to be defining in that moment. So what does that mean? It means if we are not prepared and we don't have a good feel for who we're negotiating against, who we're playing against, what our family needs, etc., what my spouse, partner needs, if we're not thinking through these things, if we're not prepared for these various interactions, then the entire time we're taking in all the stimuli, trying to figure it out, trying to build process on the spot, trying to keep using our willpower through every decision, through every moment, and ultimately we run out of energy.
But if we're prepared, then your stockpile of energy is very high in general. Your willpower is at its max capacity at the beginning of that engagement or that game.
And we're not burning it as fast because we have a process. And lastly, when we're prepared, we're detached from the outcome.
It doesn't mean we don't want an outcome. It just means we know we are going to be able to give everything we have our very best to this situation, to this sale, to this negotiation, to this game, to this match, to this tough conversation I need to have with a loved one, I know I'm going to be able to deliver if I'm prepared my very best and I am able in that moment to detach from the outcome.
So, my friends, if you want to be built for the fourth quarter, if you want to be that individual who stands alone, who stands apart, who separates themselves, who is able to carry the team, who is able to push forward when everyone else is tired, frustrated, confused, you have to be prepared. I hope this acronym helps.
It's helped me. Helps me think through these things in my life.
What do you think about the acronym? Did I miss something? Is there a better word for one of the letters in the acronym prepared? And do you believe preparation is the key to being ready for the fourth quarter? I would love for you to leave your comments. If you're watching on YouTube or if you're listening on auto, come over to the YouTube version.
Leave your comments there. Great place for me to connect, engage, respond.
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video. I'm out of here.
Peace. Let's go.
Yeah, make it look, make it look, make it look easy.

Hey, stand up, guy, boom, 10 toes.

Big body pull up in a range roll.

I can chase the whole game when I say so.

I pull up, shut it down, yeah, they know.

Running this game ain't a game for me.

I never switched up, no change in me.

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