Master the Basics

A lesson on why the basics matter more than you think … and how this simple conversation changed my life, and how it might help change yours.

I used to race motocross in the late 90’s.

One day I was looking to upgrade my muffler to a new high performance muffler that would give me a slight advantage on some areas of the track. My neighbor, a highly decorated veteran of the off road desert motorcycle circuit, said this to me:

You don’t need that. You’re not good enough for it, yet. You wont get the full benefit of it. You need to focus on the basics first. Sure, a new muffler sounds like it will help, but by now much? Likely not by any measurable amount. Let give you an example …

Imagine you gave Tiger Woods an old pair of golf clubs, do you think he’d still be amazing?

YES!! He’d be world class even with those clubs.

Why?

Because he’s mastered the craft. He mastered the basics and now he’s a pro. At that level, a small improvement like high-end clubs will help his game because he’s perfected the basics already. The same goes for a muffler. So, yeah, I’m sure it will help some people, but if you haven’t mastered the basics yet and you’re not at the top of the game, there’s no point really.

He went on to give me another analogy that resonated even more given the context of motocross racing:

If the world champion motocross racer took your bike right now, would he still be able to win all the local races with it?

Uh… yeah, absolutely. He’d destroy everyone, by a mile.

It’s not the equipment, its the skill.

That’s the moral here … the basics matter more than and advantage shifting equipment you might have.

This conversation changed my life. I have applied this concept to everything from sports I participate in, to fitness, to programming, to writing, public speaking, videos, podcasts, etc. You name it. I apply it everywhere, to this day.

The key thing to rememeber is this …

The best ROI you can get is mastering the basics.

This will teach you to do more with less and will ultimately make you more effective at almost anything you do.