Fundamentals aren’t flashy, they just win.
Last night I attended a local high school basketball game. The home team was bigger, more talented, and played very hard. And they lost. If you were to put these two teams side by side, it wouldn’t quite look like David and Goliath, but it would be close enough.
The difference was clearly fundamentals. The smaller, winning team, executed the fundamentals of the game. It was clear that their coach had drilled them over and over in the basics of success. As a result, they had the skills to consistently be in a position to use each part of their team to the best of their ability. As a result, they beat an opponent, who clearly had the advantage, but clearly could not execute the fundamentals in a way that maximized their advantage.
It’s so easy to ignore fundamentals. There is nothing sexy or flashy about them. They can even be boring. After all, there are just basics. The more you do them, the easier they become….the easier they become, the less important they might seem. It is a natural complacency of sorts. This applies in all aspects of life and business. While many people are looking to make the big hit or the slam dunk, most of the true successes in life simply plod along and do the fundamentals until their success is assured.
Most of the true successes in life simply plod along and do the fundamentals until their success is assured.
The process I teach in business is nothing more than a set of fundamentals. Yes, there are nuances that can increase the effectiveness over time, through practice and execution, but the success comes purely from the fundamentals. The fundamentals are blind to talent, intelligence, education, and physical attributes. These are all things that have the potential to enhance the effectiveness, but the person who consistently works the fundamentals is usually the one standing in the winner circle.
