Setting a plan for ourselves to aim for can be difficult. If you want to achieve something difficult you should avoid solely going for it when it’s easy for you. Achieving something difficult willl not be accomplished easily.
If you wait for a situation where you need to perform you’ll be struggling to perform. Rather than waiting for that very specific moment prepare yourself well by practising where the outcome is not important. An example is having to explain something difficult to others or talking in front of a group. A different situation is having learned how to drive in order to get your driving license. While you think your driving license is enough you might want to improve your driving abilities so you can anticipate mistakes from other drivers. Being able to anticipate to other’s mistakes you could as well learn how to drive to different areas without having to use Waze.
The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war. – Norman Schwarzkopf
Put yourself in semi-stressfull situations while there is nothing to be stressed about. For example if you haven’t been S-parking frequently try and do it from time to time when you are not in a hurry. So you can take your time to practise.When we need to be strong physically for a certain activity it’s too late to improve our strength in that short amount of time. Rather than waiting for the moment you are too late start working out and working on your physical strength while others come home and watch series. The more you exercise and work hard in your free time the better you are prepared.
If you know you will need a certain skill later on in your carreer you better prepare well and spend time on it now. Maybe you are currenly solely doing preparation for your colleagues to speak with the clients. While you have the possibility try to connect with the clients despite it may not be part of your job description. As long as you are able to perform great on the tasks you have to do you can spend time on learning something extra. Maybe someone else is in charge of maintaining the office printer, but it doesn’t hurt to listen and look how it should be done. If the other person is on vacation you can help getting the printer back up and working without having to reach out to the other person.