One of the best ways to set you up for success when you’re doing something new and important is to do a practice run beforehand. It might not always be possible to do everything exactly as planned but without a real run through, with equipment and all, you’ve got no way of knowing what might go wrong and so no way of preventing issues if you don’t have the practice.
If what you’re doing is important then a dress rehearsal is always a good idea. We had a couple of them last month for one of the kids food GCSE practical, he’d made all of the dishes individually over the previous year but hadn’t cooked them all together and ran through the order and timings. The first dress rehearsal was done a few days ahead of the practical and it picked up a few issues, including a missed step, a mix up between dishes, and a couple of tweaks that would make it better next time. There was time for another dress rehearsal and whilst doing it all again was a bit of a chore, it went much better and gave him confidence on the day. There was stil one thing that had fallen through the net, apparently he had to make his own ricotta rather than use a tub from the shop! I really enjoy faffing about in the kitchen but even I think that’s a step too far!
Dress rehearsals are also helpful in a work setting, particularly if you’ve got something coming up that’s important and that you want to go well. A practice run through helps you work out where the potential problems are and gives you the opportunity to prevent them. Especially if you’re working with equipment, there really is nothing worse than not being able to get the technology working when you’ve got people taking time out of their day. I always think it should be easier than it is, but I know from experience that getting in and practising the set up will be worth the effort to make sure it runs smoothly on the day.
Next time you’ve got something important coming up, consider whether a dress rehearsal would help make sure you’re confident and competent for the real thing, and if it would, book it in. It will be time well spent doing something proactive and productive.