Fellow SECC folk.
One thing I still do before a major contest is revisit contesting tips I've read on how to be more competitive. I only enter a few contests a year so doing that refreshes my memory on techniques that work and helps me prepare mentally for the upcoming event. One of the places I still frequently go back to is EI8IC's web page. Don't know if any of you have been there or not but he has a contesting section that you can drill down to. (Thanks Tim!)
Early on while contesting I would read stuff like this and feel overwhelmed. So each contest I would pick three or four ideas that made sense to me, write them down on sticky notes, and post them around the operating station. My eye would run over them now and then during the contest and remind me to try them out. Eventually, they either became second nature and I replaced them with new ideas or I threw them out as not being very effective for me and found something new to try. Doing that helped improve my scores.
One of my favorite topics of his is titled "Contest Operating Tips". It has been pretty useful to me.
Unfortunately, I've been sick and neglected the house and antenna work for the last few weeks so I'm not playing this weekend. Y'all have fun!
KevanN4XL