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You will never outperform your ability to communicate. If you’re not consistently practicing, you’re consistently slipping.
If Beyoncé still rehearses and LeBron James still practices, what makes you think you’re the exception?
Top athletes and musicians don’t wait to practice until game day or concert night. They build greatness in the everyday. LeBron doesn’t stroll into a game hoping muscle memory saves him. Beyoncé doesn’t wing her Super Bowl halftime show. Even the best still rehearse daily. They know excellence doesn’t happen by chance. It’s earned through consistent, intentional practice.
Yet in the corporate world, we treat communication, the one skill that determines how others perceive us, as if it doesn’t need the same discipline. We hit a certain title or paycheck and suddenly believe we’ve earned the right to wing it.
Let me ask you this:
If your communication skills determine your credibility, trustworthiness and level of influence … why would you ever stop practicing it?
Here are the most common responses I hear:
Response: “I’ve been doing this a long time.”
Translation: “I’ve stopped seeking feedback and gotten comfortable winging it.”
We wouldn’t accept this mindset from a surgeon, a pilot, or a performer. Yet we tolerate it in ourselves, even though the consequences are just as critical. Miscommunication kills deals, damages trust and derails careers.
Why Practice Gets Left Behind
Somewhere along the way, success became a permission slip to stop growing. Titles replaced training, paychecks replaced feedback, and comfort replaced the desire to improve.
Influence doesn’t care how long you’ve been doing your job. It cares how you show up in every single individual interaction—Monday to Monday®.
Most of us are one honest piece of feedback away from becoming significantly more effective, and yet we don’t ask. We won’t record ourselves, and we won’t measure performance.
Instead, we assume: “If no one’s complaining, I must be doing fine.”
“Fine” is not the goal.
Influence doesn’t come from coasting. It comes from the discipline of showing up better tomorrow than you did today.
Practice Doesn’t Mean More Time. It Means More Awareness. You don’t need to block two hours a day to rehearse a speech in front of a mirror. Deliberate practice means raising your awareness in every interaction, from high-stakes presentations to low-stakes coffee chats.
Ask yourself:
Did I maintain eye connection in that meeting?
Am I pausing long enough to let my message land?
Was I clear, or long-winded?
Do I show up on Zoom the same way as in the boardroom?
Every conversation—whether it’s with your team, your client, or your kids—is a chance to practice. To refine. To improve.
It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being intentional.
If You Want to Be Heard, Practice Being Better. Those who truly influence don’t leave it to chance. They work at it.
If the best athletes and performers in the world practice daily, why wouldn't you?
Related: Stop Death by PowerPoint