Hey, this is Rajiv Kumar Luv Trainer, Coach, Workshop leader, Author, podcaster, Youtuber and founder of The Personality Boss which conducts the Ultimate Personality Development Program, Course, Coaching, Training and Workshops in Mumbai. I help you design the life you want. The articles that I post on my blog also have one purpose in mind “Leadership through Personality Development” Now over to the article…

Hello, Greetings from The Personality Boss and Rajiv Kumar Luv.

In this post, we’ll be talking about Why Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

Most people believe that homework is only for school going children; I believe homework is more important when you start working for an Organization or for yourself. If you don’t do your homework well, it will reflect in your performance, that’s why it is said, prior proper planning prevents poor performance. Homework is a high payoff task because it helps you achieve your most important goals, helps you realize your dreams.

When I was in school I hated two things one was studying and the other was doing the homework. Every evening I had to sit and do my homework, I would feel miserable, I could hear the voices of my friends playing outside and wonder how come they get to play and I have to do this stupid homework, I used to think maybe in college I don’t have to do homework, boy, I was wrong, Then I thought when I start working I don’t have to do any more homework, I was sadly mistaken again. I found that you have to do your homework every day and if you don’t, it will affect and show in your results.

I remember my first job…..

I had newly joined this leather company, the boss Mr Dhingra asked me how much cow leather do we have in in stock, my answer, I will check and let you know, what model number is under production, I had no answers to the questions he asked. He then rang a bell and his senior manager, Mr.Varadarajan came, he posed him the same question, he rattled off the full details and this guy never visited the factory that I was in charge of, a computer too wouldn’t have given better answers. I felt embarrassed, it was humiliating. I had obviously not done my homework.

What is homework?

If we talk about homework in the workplace doing your homework could mean:

Preparation, Planning, Weighing the pros and cons, Prioritizing, Scheduling, Checking resources, Having information, clarifying needs, Organizing, Coming up with ideas, problem solving, making your to-do list, not-to-do list. Homework is something that you do behind the scene, something no one ever gets to see, everyone applauds the achievements but they never get to see the homework that goes behind it.

People who excel in their fields take their homework very seriously putting in hours and hours of work for example:

• Musician – riyaz (practice)
• Sportsmen – practice
• Actors – dialogue delivery practice

In his book the outliers, Malcolm Gladwell tells us that to become a master at anything you need to practice your craft for 10,000 hours. That’s homework.

You need to do your homework if the next day you have to:

• Give a presentation
• Take part in a negotiation
• Give a report to the board of directors
• Launch a new product
• Organize an event
• Take an interview / Face an interview
• Go on a journey
• When you have to make an investment
• Teach
• Go to a meeting

Why do we find it difficult to do the homework?

Distractions – TV/SMS / Facebook / Twitter /Mobile / Internet / friends / lot of pleasurable activities some other reasons could be, the tendency to take things easy / maybe other seemingly urgent things come up / or may be just plain laziness

We may have developed negative associations to homework from our school days Even today schools and parents are divided on whether children should be given homework or not. Homework could be something we don’t like to do, which I have already admitted, but then, life is filled with things we don’t like to do, but I strongly feel the habit of doing homework teaches self-discipline, development of work habits, time management, research skills, reinforcement of known techniques, and other non-academic life skills.

What pain do you experience when you fail to do your homework?

You fumble / become anxious / cut a sorry figure / loss of credibility / fail / lose business /embarrassed / humiliated / stressed out

What pleasure do you experience when you do your homework?

Feel confident / poised / have a positive influence / build reliability, trust and credibility / get more business / more healthy /

So Associate lot of pleasure to doing your homework, and lot of pain to not doing your homework, this motivates you to take action.

A person who does his homework regularly attracts more luck as luck is the point where opportunity meets preparation. When an opportunity presents itself are you ready?

E.g. once, When I went to an Institute to meet the director and sell my training services, he gave me an opportunity and said the class is ready right now, would you like to take it, I said that I was ready too, but had I not done my homework I would have said, not now, some other time and then lose opportunity.

Here is some action you can take. Every field has its own set of homework’s, identify them and then devote your time to do it. Good observation, a desire to do things excellently, consistently learning are requirements to do your homework well.

Minimize negative thinking, negative associations, laziness, procrastination.

Maximize – resources, self-discipline, adapt- new situations, people, and technology. Homework is a high payoff task because it helps you achieve your most important goals, helps you realize your dreams.

Let me end with a question I asked you in the beginning of this article. Have you done your homework? If your answer is yes then give yourself a pat on the back and say well done. And if your answer is No, then go do it.

I am Rajiv Kumar Luv. My passion in life is to make a difference in the lives of people so that they achieve their personal as well as professional best. I am absolutely committed to specially helping youngsters become leaders in their chosen fields. In the past 28 years, I have trained over 100,000 people from all walks of life. Through my two-day program “Leadership Through Personality Development” I help the youth plan their career, build confidence, make better decisions, manage time and develop their employability skills to meet today’s real-life challenges. You can learn more about me and the work I do by visiting: http://www.thepersonalityboss.com