WHY PROFESSIONAL HABIT BUILDING MATTERS IN SPORTS INDUSTRY
Habits build the core of our character and it has a very long term effect on our professional life too. It can be rather said that Habits may have a detrimental effect on our professional career.
So lets understand what is a habit? It is a behavior (or action) that you repeat it so often that you start doing things automatically. Few examples of what you do without thinking are – Brushing your teeth, Checking your Watapp every morning you wake up, grab a cup of tea or coffee as soon as you reach office, you automatically check your Instagram account every few minutes etc .
Youngsters often think that habits are for maintain good health or waking up early or reading books or fitness goals or reaching on time for match practices. But having good habits also include replying and communicating appropriately and on time.
In professional life too, having good habits is great because that is one of the tools to achieving great success in your career. So if you are working in sports industry, your replying to sponsor or client email can be as important as your habit of going to your practice sessions daily.
Lets understand from an example that there are two interns (A and B) working in the same office. Intern A – always comes late, doesn’t need the brief, submits budgets/ work last minute, does not follow-up with vendors etc. And then there is Intern B – who always takes ownership in assigned tasks, prepares and finishes work on or before deadline, follows-up with vendors etc.
Both these interns A and B have same qualification. Whom would you choose and trust with your next assignment or project? Obviously, Intern B! But some of you may think that following up, submitting work etc are acquired skills on the job / skills development.
An important differentiation to understand here about Habits vs Skills is that – Skills will get you noticed y your management but Habits will that you surely earn trust of people / clients / sponsors. Skills is being good at something or having mastery at something (eg. Knowing to use Excel to make complicated reports) and Habits is being dependent upon consistently (eg. Maintaining and updating your data sheets on time, timely replying to emails regularly, every single time etc).
Having understood the difference between Skills vs Habits, lets learn how to develop good habit pattern which starts small. For this one doesn’t need to change completely. Small Habits slowly brings big results.
Now to ensure to inculcate or develop a habit, one can follow the TAB formula.
T – Trigger : this is for you to understand that you need to take action. Eg. A task received from your Boss.
A – Action : the physical action one needs to take and be mindful of it. Eg. To note down the job assigned along with the deadline given by your boss.
B – Benefit : this helps you build habit. Eg. You will know what exactly needs to be done and that too within the set deadline.
Another way to build a good habit it to follow these 4 simple rules – 1) Start with small goals – One habit at a time. (2) Make it easy – don’t set hefty or impossible targets for yourself . (3) Attach this goal to something that you already do. (4) Repeat this consistently – on a daily basis.
An interesting fact that according to Stanford Research Center – 85% of career success is achieved from soft skills and good habits like – being punctual, discipline, communication & follow-ups, And about only 15% from technical skill. So while Technical skill are critical to have, so are the soft skills.
There is a popular saying in the corporate world that “Talent opens the door. Habits decide how long you stay in the room.”
Here are a few habits that help you build your career if you start practicing them early on in your professional journey. These are – Communicate clearly, reply to messages or emails on time, do your own research, respect the deadlines, do regular follow-up, take complete ownership of the task assigned, be punctual.
Now I would like to list a few habits that can hurt your professional career. These are – Not Following-up, making excuses for the completing the task assigned, blaming others, constant checking your mobile – especially while in meeting or important team discussions, last minute work, “its not my job” attitude, procrastination.
Important habits during / while organizing a sports event can be :
Check → Communicate → Execute → Update → Re-Check
Remember – Habits create your reputation. Your reputation is built through repeated behaviour. Not one big achievement.
“At KRIT, we just dont prepare our students to understand sports management. We prepare them to work in the sports industry. And the industry doesn’t only look at what you know. It notices how you work.”
