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10 Basic Rules to Live your Life by which Require No Talent

A few days ago, I was singing at the pre-Christmas lunch reception for Network Dublin (a business networking group for leading business women in Dublin) in the lovely Westin Hotel in Dublin City Centre.

The key speaker for the event was Mick Bohan, the Manager of the Dublin Senior Ladies Gaelic Football Team.  His talk had a number of interesting points but one main one stuck with me and that was that everyone has the ability to get the basics right.   In other words, no talent is needed to implement these basics, only hard work, focus and dedication.

It seems that a lot of successful sports teams follow the same or similar basics –  there are only 10 of them.  It got me thinking of how these 10 basics separate effective people from ineffective people in any situation, be it in work or in life itself. So, what are these 10 basic points or rules that we can apply to be more successful and effective?  I’ve taken a slightly less sporty spin on them but the list below are still authentic and will still resonate with you.

They are:

  1. Be on Time
  2. Develop a Strong Work Ethic
  3. Use open Body Language
  4. Put in Effort
  5. Bring Energy to what you do
  6. Have a Positive Attitude
  7. Be Passionate in what you do
  8. Be Coachable
  9. Go the Extra Mile
  10. Be Prepared

Again, let me remind you that none of the above points require talent just hard work, focus and determination.  Each basic point is achievable and is a good check-in or base-line on how to conduct ourselves in work and in life in general.

So, if you were to apply all of the above, what would the impact be and what does it say about you – here are some suggestions:

  1. Be on Time – this says that you are organised, focused and respectful of other people’s time
  2. Develop a Strong Work Ethic – this says that you aren’t work-shy or afraid of hard work and that you’ll roll up your sleeves when you need to get a job done
  3. Use open Body Language – this says that you are approachable and responsive to others
  4. Put in Effort – this says that you are tenacious, will work hard to succeed at your goals and can self-regulate to avoid excuses which will prevent you from getting things done
  5. Bring Energy to what you do – this says that you can call up the energy required to get things done and you have the ability to motivate yourself and others
  6. Have a Positive Attitude – this says that you can regulate your mind set and emotions so you can get a good outcome in every situation
  7. Be Passionate in what you do – this says that you can both influence yourself and others by your passion
  8. Be Coachable – this says that you are aware that you need to have a growth mindset and every day you can improve on your skills, your mindset and your blindspots
  9. Go the Extra Mile – this says that you are not complacent but you deliver 110% service to every team member, client, family member, friend or person in need in their hour or moment of need
  10. Be Prepared – this says that you have the ability to anticipate challenges, disasters and objections and that you have a plan on how to overcome them or work your way through or around them in order to succeed

Most of us are probably doing some or all of the above but not at the same time and maybe not consistently.  So, rather than waiting ’til the New Year to make a New Year’s Resolution, I’m going to start working on the above at the same time and consistently from now.  The proof they say, is in the pudding (no pun intended seeing as it’s December), you only need to look at the success of the Dublin Senior Ladies Gaelic Football Team – winners of the last 3 All Ireland Football Finals in Croke Park.  These 10 basic rules work, once you work at them.

Seeing as the year is making it’s way very quickly to the 31st of December – Happy Holidays, Happy Christmas and Happy New Year to you all and your loved ones.

All the best for 2020,

Laura.