Please forgive the click bait title. I’m experimenting with following best practices marketing advice from successful bloggers. The subtitle is Everyone Needs a Haka. Because developing your personal Haka will allow you to nail every audition and interview. Most of them, anyway.
Mental preparation is huge. We talk about getting in the zone. Do you have a preparation ritual? Have you thought about having a preparation ritual?
You rehearse, you memorize, you go over it one more time. And one more time again. All good. But how much time do you spend getting your head in the game?
Enter the Haka. A pre-game ritual that takes my breathing, affirmations and visualizations to the stratosphere.
I was recently introduced to rugby because my son’s high school happens to be really good at the sport. His math teacher is a captain of the US National Team and took a leave of absence for the Rugby World Cup this autumn.
This brings me to the All Blacks, New Zealand’s championship team. This legendary team has won 76% of their matches since international play began in 1903, making them one of the most successful teams in any sport, ever.
The All Blacks take mental preparation very seriously. Before every match they perform the Haka. Watch.
(The Haka is such a thing that the Air New Zealand crew Haka’d on the tarmac to welcome home their championship team.)
Quick History Lesson:
“Ka Mate” is a M?ori haka composed by Te Rauparaha, war leader of the Ng?ti Toa tribe of the North Island of New Zealand. The first national team was comprised primarily of Maori players with 4 New Zealand born players of European descent. They’ve Haka’d ever since. With results.
Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora! Ka mate! Ka mate! Ka ora! Ka ora! Tenai te tangata puhuruhuru
Tis death! Tis death! Tis life! Tis life! Tis death! Tis death! Tis life! Tis life! This is the hairy man!
This Is The Hairy Man cracks me up. If you balk at celebrating The Hairy Man try channeling martial artist Jesse Jane McParland, seen here competing in the 2014 junior world kick boxing championships. This kid kicks ass and inspires me no end. Did I mention she’s 9 and a multiple world record holder?
Fierce is an overused word but Jesse Jane and the All Blacks are fierce. They are not hoping to win. They are unapologetically expecting to win. Mind set. The Psychology of Success.
It’s up to you how loud and how much choreography you employ. The point is to be unselfconsciously, intentionally, deliberately ALL IN.
Then go out and nail that audition, meeting, job interview.
