When I was a child, I was known as “The Athlete” of my small town. I played every sport, from baseball to football, and competed at relatively high levels in all the sports I engaged. I naturally sprinted faster than most of my peers, dove for more flags than ALL of my peers, and led my teams with my enthusiasm and genuine passion for athletics.
As I grew up, I specialized more in basketball and lacrosse. And although I was still relatively good at these sports, I was noticeably surpassed by competitors and observed my athletic career close upon high school graduation.
I was still quicker than most. I got my hands dirtier than all. I led my teams with energy and dedicated persistence. However, defenders kept stealing the basketball from me. I missed routine shots. I dropped passes from my teammates on the lacrosse field. My natural athleticism only carried me so far, and my neglect of fundamentals, like dribbling, or layup drills, or catching, hindered my performance.
The two main reasons I shirked the fundamentals were simple: 1) I rested on the laurels of my innate athleticism; 2) I spent more time on trick shots and novelty skills than I did on the basics. Just like in business, the fundamentals prove vital in elevating your skill set, honing your vision, and guiding your pursuits. I recently read that common sense is not commonly practiced. I’ve been told my whole life to K.I.S.S. (not romantically, but to “keep it simple, stupid”). Many concepts are simple, but their execution is not easy. Why is that? Maybe because we get lost in complicated, unnecessary actions and activities along the way.
Going back to the basics implies a step back, or a regression, in your professional pursuits. Which further derails your perspective of the fundamentals and prevents you from leveraging these fundamentals to further grow your career. However, the concept of going FORWARD to the basics implies that you are advancing your pursuits, whether occupational or personal, by capitalizing on refining your fundamentals or exploring new ones.
But why go FORWARD to the basics? How can this concept help you in all areas of your life? Let’s look at the 3 C’s:
1) Compete more effectively.
Elite athletes continually find ways to outperform their opponents by fractions of percentages. At the elite level, all athletes have comparable skills and potential, which drives these athletes to create new competitive edges. Since the fundamentals build your entire base skill set, you can leverage the fundamentals to develop nuances or enhancements of your innate ability that competitors cannot match. For instance, if you’re an author, you can hone your writing by exploring other styles or joining an online community comprised of various writers who can offer varying feedback and perspective.
To illustrate the significance of outperforming others by fractions of percentages, enjoy Al Pacino’s “inch-by-inch” speech in Any Given Sunday by clicking here.
2) Compound your efforts.
Professional American football players utilize physical exercises to improve their performance on the field. One exercise is a “clean,” in which the athlete lifts a loaded barbell from the ground to his shoulders, which requires significant leg strength and explosiveness. American football players can leverage this movement to: 1) strengthen their legs and 2) enhance their explosive power. With stronger legs, these athletes can block and tackle more effectively. With more explosiveness, these athletes can jump higher and catch or intercept more passes. The fundamental exercise of the clean applies to multiple skills on the football field.
Just like the clean, many fundamentals apply across multiple skills and functions. Targeting multifaceted fundamentals increases the value of your time, efforts, and resulting improvements in behavior and action. As you compound your fundamentals and allow them to build off one another, you will experience synergistic and previously unrealized outcomes that will open new opportunities for your skill set and impact. For instance, if you’re a Statistics teacher, you can leverage the basics of probability to develop various aptitudes in your students, including mathematics, business decision-making, and applied risk. These aptitudes transfer to other academic courses, professions, and enhanced analytical development.
To illustrate the significance of compounding efforts, enjoy Tony Robbins’ take on a game of golf by clicking here. The financial analysis he applies is comparable to the value add of the fundamentals and efforts you compound throughout your life.
3) Center your fundamentals.
The 90/10 concept is widely used both in athletics and in life. Sports are 90% mental, and 10% physical. Conversely, life is 10% what happens to a person and 90% how that person reacts and responds. Fundamentals, skills, and consequent actions must be aligned with the mind in order to add any tangible value in outcome. The mind controls thoughts, which dictate behaviors, which drive results. The power of mindset demonstrates itself in athletics all the time – need I reference the Patriots’ comeback over the Falcons in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LI?
The most powerful tool you possess is your mind. Instead of distracting yourself with achievements of the past or novelty tricks, like I did, refocus your efforts and fundamentals as natural extensions of your mindset. To stay grounded, driven, and oriented towards your end goal, you must center your fundamentals around your mindset. Gain awareness of the fundamentals you choose and how they fit within your vision and perspective. For instance, a value-oriented investor may find himself financially distressed if he dips into growth-oriented companies, especially if he fails to shift his investing lens or build out a well-researched methodology to accommodate the new strategy (in this scenario, the methodology would be a vital fundamental).
To illustrate the significance of aligning your fundamentals and behaviors with your mind, enjoy an elementary (literally!) video that simply and succinctly reiterates the impact that your perspective maintains on your consequent feelings and actions by clicking here.
The 3 C’s enhance your productivity, optimize your time, and reorient your focus. By reorienting your focus, you establish your mind as the sun that brightens and sources your consequent thoughts and actions. Your behaviors, habits, and actions orbit around your sun, or your mind, and are directly connected to your mind. Once the mind is aligned with thoughts and actions, you can better optimize your time and materially enhance your productivity. Keep the 3 C’s in scope as you consider going FORWARD to the basics. And do yourself a favor – don’t just consider. DO IT! Go FORWARD to the basics. Let your mind strengthen, your focus sharpen, and your results transform your life (and the lives of those around you!).
