Written by 
Seven-time Super Bowl Champion, Tom Brady, knows that boosting competence boosts confidence … and confidence is fuel for high achievers. Brady’s competence at his position gave Tampa Bay the confidence it needed to elevate from mediocre to championship status.
Building your competence is like cleaning your house. If you stop cleaning, dust collects. The need to clean never ends. In order to stick to it and achieve the success you deserve, the task of building competence also never ends. Tom Brady realizes this. That’s why he is still a champion at 43 years old.
Here are five quick tips from 107 Ways to Stick to It to help you achieve the championship success:
#1 – Listen more than you talk.
Mark Twain said, “If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two mouths and one ear.” When you listen, you learn and also prevent “blind spots” — weaknesses that are apparent to others but not to you. The higher your rise in an organization, the more you must listen.
#2 – Create it once, use it many times.
If you know you will perform a task more than once, create a checklist, form or template to save time and improve your consistency over the long haul. No need to reinvent the wheel every time you conduct or coordinate an off-site meeting, prepare a proposal, send out a mailing, plan a new project timeline, etc.
#3 – Learn along the way.
After you complete each task, ask yourself, “What should I Stop, Start and Keep?” Identify those things that did not go so well (Stop), those you did not do that would have helped (Start) and those that went well (Keep). Continually improving your performance is a powerful way to build competence — it turns good to great!
#4 – Ask the right questions.
The fastest way to change the answers you receive — from yourself and others — is to change the questions you ask. Asking the right questions will get you better answers whether you are asking them of yourself or of others. The questions you ask will either limit or expand the possible responses.
#5 – Be decisive!
Get 80% of the information you need, then make the best decision you can. Don’t let being perfect stop you from doing something good. Remember, good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
For 102 more tips, check out 107 Ways to Stick to It.
