Do a trial run

If the stakes matter, rehearse beforehand so you know what can go wrong

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that for anything high stakes, it is wise
to do a trial run. When you get one chance

(00:25):
to nail something important, it pays to practice at least
once or twice beforehand so you are confident the big
event will go well. Anybody who has done theater, dance,
or musical performances knows how important rehearsals, including dress rehearsals,

(00:46):
can be. You have to be sure that you can
execute the performance well, not just in your rehearsal space
in your ordinary clothes, but on the actual stage in
costume and with lights and sound. But rehearsals and trial
runs aren't just for the arts. For instance, if you

(01:07):
are giving a big presentation, you should probably run through
it in your venue at least once. That's because preparing
a presentation isn't just a matter of putting together a
great PowerPoint deck, or even putting together a deck and
planning your talking points. You want to think about what
your audience is seeing and experiencing. When you are sitting

(01:32):
at your desk reviewing your slides, you may think you
can deliver the presentation well. But once you get into
the presentation space and see that you'll want to be
looking at your audience and not back at your slides
or even at a confidence monitor, you may realize you
need to practice just a little bit more, or you
may realize that the font that you feared would be

(01:53):
awkwardly big is actually a bit small for people sitting
in the back of the room. After a trial run,
you could tweak the slides and rehearse more so that
you are well prepared and confident for the real thing.
If you are going back packing, do a trial run
to be sure that the gear you are intending to

(02:15):
carry all fits into your bag hand that you can
carry that bag even up a hill. Oh, you want
to make sure there is hiking boots fit as well.
If you are hosting your family for Easter and planning
to make lamb for the first time, don't instead do

(02:36):
a trial run by making lamb for a first time
a couple weeks beforehand. See you can make sure you
understand the recipe and get good results. If you are
okay with ordering pizza, if things don't pan out, then
that is fine, but it might be worth reducing the
stress by knowing how your chosen menu comes together. For

(03:00):
anything where it is important to you that it goes well,
don't just leave things to chance. Do a trial run
so you can see what might go wrong and figure
out solutions ahead of time. Some troubles simply aren't foreseeable,
but a great many are. A trial run will reveal

(03:24):
them so they won't be a problem when it really
counts in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks

(03:46):
for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,

(04:08):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.