Lovely X Post by Kevin Dahlstrom here

Nearly 40 years ago, my high school tennis coach dropped this gem on me:

“We go to tournaments to collect trophies—the matches are won or lost in practice.”

As a 16-year-old beanpole with limited talent, I loved the idea that I could stack the deck in my favor simply by putting in the work ahead of time. It’s something I could control completely.

What’s more, I quickly realized that most other players wouldn’t prepare as diligently. It almost felt like cheating—I didn’t win every match, but I became darn hard to beat.

Over the years, Coach’s advice served me well in all aspects of life:

I aced exams by mastering the material (not by cramming). I landed jobs by rehearsing every potential question.

Even today, every speech I give is practiced 10 times. When I show up for a high stakes meeting, I’m buttoned up. When I go to the climbing crag, I’ve trained and studied the route.

Put simply, I don’t wing it and I don’t leave things to chance. I do the work in advance to stack the deck in my favor.

I don’t win ’em all, but I do win my unfair share.

What about you? Are you winging it—or are you doing the work to stack the deck in your favor?”