In the martial arts classes I teach, students always hear me talk about constantly “honing the knife” by practicing our basic kicks, punches, blocks and stances – ad nauseam. Anyone observing a typical class there will see even the master-ranked black belts spending the majority of class repeatedly practicing the basics they first learned as white belts. For one very good reason….you are NEVER better than your basics. If you cannot hold a basic stance, you will always be off balance, not move properly and have no power. If you cannot execute a punch properly, you will hurt yourself and have no power behind your attack. Fancy techniques and years training cannot overcome poor basics.
This same principle applies in the other areas of our lives, like business and Forum. We are never better than our basics. No matter how smart we are, how much we know about the industry or our customer, how good our work product is – if we constantly drop balls on the simple basics, we will have trouble achieving excellence. What are the “basics” in business and life? Here is what I think: COMMUNICATION, BEHAVIOR and COMMITMENTS!
COMMUNICATION – Being clear, concise and honest in our communication is critical in life. If you are not clear with what you ask for or never ask for it, how can you blame others when you don’t get what you want?Nothing causes confusion or missed expectations more than poor communication.
BEHAVIOR – Be respectful… always. Nothing kills relationships more than disrespectful behavior. And, there is absolutely no justification for it.
COMMITMENTS – The only think you have in this world is your word and integrity. If you say you are going to do something.. do it. If you are not sure you can do it… don’t say you will. It’s that simple.
And in a world where there are a lot of things that we cannot control (and we lose focus on things we have no control over all the time), these three things are completely in our control.
“With good basics you’ll have endless options.” – Anon.
“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.” – Jim Rohn
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