Yesterday evening I met one of my mentors for dinner. An amazing and wonderful lady who´s a successful entrepreneur, a former tennis pro, and a board member of a global NGO. I´m always inspired by her experience, wisdom, and humbleness.

We were talking and exchanging about various topics. From the possible impact of the Corona Virus, latest trends in AI, to the future of education (one of my favorite topics as some of you might know). As we enjoyed our Strawberry cheese cake toward the end of our meal, we suddenly found ourselves in an incredible stimulating discussion about success, failure, and how best to deliver results.

It all started when she told me about one of her daughters who is a very talented tennis player and who practices very hard for many hours every day. During one of her last tournaments, and although having been comfortably in the lead after the first set, she suddenly struggled and lost her rhythm. Her serving lacked her usual force, her returns became unstable, and she committed multiple unforced errors. As she was about to lose the match, her coach took her aside and reminded her to clear her head, to push aside her self-doubts, and instead to focus on the basics. The basics on how to play tennis. To keep the eyes on the ball, to keep her feet moving, to plan her next move, and to follow through with some hard strokes and precise volleys which are her specialty. She went back on the court, and with the words of her coach still in her head, was able to turn the match around and win.

That´s when it sunk in and I realized that this is so true for many areas in life. If you get in trouble or things don´t work out as planned, one should go back to basics. More often than not, it´s refocusing on the basics that will improve things again. Or, in other words:

Unless you´ve laid the groundwork, and stick with it, nothing you do beyond that will be effective and of lasting value.

If you lose sight of the basics, if you get careless by wanting to do too many things at the same time or by over-complicating an issue, you risk to get distracted, to waste precious resources, and eventually to falter. Instead, remind yourself of the essentials, to keep it simple, to follow through, and to execute in the excellence.

Are you applying the Principle of the Basics? Or do you follow another, similar strategy to keep you focused and honest? Thanks for joining the discussion and leaving a comment below!

Kind regards,
Andreas von der Heydt