"I'm either ready, or I'm not"

This is a line and story I love so much. It’s from Floyd “Money” Mayweather. It was fight night and he had a friend come in his room, “just chilling watching basketball”. He wanted him to be his guest and to walk him to the ring that night. They hung out in his room as he waits for his main event fight. His guest, after a while told him “Ok Floyd, I don’t want to get in your way of getting ready, we’re gonna head out and give you your space”, “Nah man, I’m good just chill”. So, they continue to just hang out and talk, watching a basketball game. Another silent moment came about and his friend says the same thing and Floyd answers, “Man I’m good, just chill. I did everything I needed to do. There’s nothing I’m gonna do now that’s gonna change the outcome, I’m either ready or I’m not.”

“I’m either ready or I’m not”. There’s no need to stress, cram anything in now; I already did all my work. I prepared, now I simply execute. It’s that simple. That’s why you work and train and practice your craft. To be ready. You’re either ready or you’re not. One or the other, no in-betweens here. Which one are you?

Be thorough in your preparation. Do everything you’re supposed to do, everything you “could” do, everything you “should” do, and then do one more. Leave no stone unturned. Study your craft, practice your art, put in your reps. It’s all about reps. It’s all about the quality of the time you put in. Quantity is important, but quality is even more important. It’s not about the quantity of work you do, it’s about the quality of that quantity.

If you’re competing in anything, sports, sales, work, in the right kind of league everyone is good, or good enough to compete. If not, they wouldn’t be there. So, what that means is, the less likely you’re able to get away & succeed without preparation. That means studying, that means training, doing your reps and getting ready for game-day, for sales-day, whatever it is as best as you possibly can. The quality of your preparation is what is going to make the difference.

The assurance and confidence you build and bring to your game-day is directly correlated to the quality of your preparation. Knowing that you prepared thoroughly, that’s what builds your confidence, and keeps you strong when you’re tired on game-day. When you’re hurt, when everything is going against you, you’re ok because, you know you can overcome it due to all the work you’ve done to get here in the first place. You didn’t make all those sacrifices to quit now while you’re down. Actually, the training you’ve done is what’s going to guide you through to your victory. This is why you go through all that pain in training.

“You don’t rise to your potential, you fall to the level of your training”

The purpose of that training is to condition you for these moments. The key is to mesmerize yourself with the process, day-in and day-out. I am in this state, fully present in this state, I know this feeling, I know this pain, I know this power.

It’s easy for people to show up on game-day, it’s easy to “save yourself” for game-day. Truth is you don’t “get better” on game-day, you don’t actually win on game-day. You win and get better on your “workdays” on your “training days”, that’s when you win, that’s when you get better.

“Champions are made when no one is watching”

You don’t “save yourself” for game-day, you “train yourself” for game-day. In every sense of the word, train. If you’re “saving yourself” in practice, then what you’re doing is “training yourself” to “save yourself” on game day. If you’re practicing and giving everything you have in each rep, you’re “training yourself” to give everything you have on each rep on game-day. It’s that simple. “You practice how you play, you pay how you practice”, no exceptions. Stop lying to yourself. Stop justifying why you’re not training harder or why you’re resting more.

You’re either getting better or you’re getting worst. No such thing as staying the same. I’ll repeat it for you, there’s no such thing as staying the same. Remember that. It doesn’t matter what you did yesterday or what you will do tomorrow. What matters is whether you’re doing it, whether you’re getting better today or not. You’re either getting better or you’re getting worst. When it comes to game-day, fight night, speech time, nothing you do then matters because by then you’re either ready or you’re not.