Do you have great skills? (Napoleon Dynamite reference is coming)

If you’ve seen Napoleon Dynamite you’re likely to remember the importance of great skills. Napoleon says, “I don’t even have any skills.” To which his friend Pedro replies, “What do you mean?” Then Napoleon’s famous answer “You know, like nunchuck skills, bo hunting skills, computer hacking skills. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.”

Napoleon describing why he wants to have great skills

I honestly can’t say much about skills in the dating game, but in goal achievement and behavior change, skills are terribly underrated. How many of us have had a boss say, “I’m trying to help you! If you don’t do [something you wrote on a a yearly goal sheet 8 months ago] I won’t be able to sign off on your yearly bonus” (followed by a sigh and sad face). That’s motivation — if you don’t do X you won’t get Y, and it’s the technique nearly everyone turns to when they’re struggling to get someone to change. Don’t believe me? Watch a parent for 5 minutes at a playground.

Motivation is just one tool in an arsenal at your disposal to help create change. While motivation is important, it’s important to remember that change often cannot happen by motivation alone. To change you will most likely need to develop some new skills.

You’ve likely heard the old saying practice makes perfect, and it’s counterpart perfect practice makes perfect. But what is it that sets the practice of the pros apart from the practice you and I do when we roll in for our once a year turkey bowl? When you listen to the best athletes describe their workout routines they point to specific techniques they performed poorly, as opposed to wishy washy vague ways they need to improve.

Helpful example

Lets say we could get into Steph Curry’s mind while he’s practicing. After each shot that went poorly we’re likely to hear something like the following, “I didn’t have my feet set,” or “I didn’t follow through all the way.”

For the next example, lets head to the Wright family basketball court where four brothers are playing two on two, each team doing their best to eek out a victory to prove who still has what it takes! You don’t need to be in their head to know what’s going on. They shout it. “Focus!” “Get your head in the game!”

See the difference? Steph is focusing on specific skills that he can adjust in order to improve. The Wright brothers, rather than citing specific ways they need to improve, are really just spouting excuses about why they shoot so poorly on a 9 ft hoop.

So, what does all of this have to do with your role? You’re a marketer, salesperson, product manager, designer, etc. If you want to be great, you have to focus on improving your skills, not just focus on outcomes and motivation. How can you find out what skills you need to do your job well? Better yet, how can you acquire those skills?

Tips for gaining skills

Please consider the following as potentially helpful ways for you to find out what skills you need and acquire them:

1. Ask friends — most people have peers or friends that are good at what they do. Ask those people what skills they feel are necessary in order to perform their best. If they had to tell you one skill to master in order to become a good salesperson, what would they say? Once you have a good list of skills, put a plan in place to help you develop those skills.
2. Have a coach —Once you have adequately grasped the skills you need to develop, consider finding a coach. You’ll need to practice and it’s helpful to get feedback on how you’re doing. This doesn’t have to be a professional coach, maybe just someone that’s interested in seeing you succeed.
3. Research — lots of people have likely written about the skills needed to perform your specific role, or the role you’re trying to move into. Consider spending time researching those skills then trying.
4. Survey yourself — when I’m trying to develop new skills I often create a survey that I take daily. In the survey I describe how my technique is improving to help me develop a specific skill.

Too many people focus on the carrot or the stick when they try to change behavior, when in reality, great achievement and great change almost always require the acquisition of some new skill. In your efforts to influence change in yourself and others, don’t focus on motivation alone. Identify and develop the critical new skills you need in order to achieve your goals.

Don’t forget about motivation

I’m not trying to say that motivation is unimportant. In order to develop these new skills you’ll certainly need motivation. Motivation and the development of new skills are two critical components of behavior change. Feel free to take a look at another article I wrote recently describing ways to help increase your motivation while you’re working to develop new skills!

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