MAKING EFFECTIVE USE OF YOUR TIME
2) Mastering the fundamentals
Most people believe they know more than they actually do. Then, when nothing seems to work, they’re left confused. This is because their fundamental skills are weak. They may have been avoiding learning a specific skill because they think it’s not important or because they were too eager to move on to the next topic. But the devil is often in the details. By overlooking one small detail after another, many people end up miles away from their intended destination.
Do you really know everything you need to know about your goals? Have you applied everything you’ve learned? And have you done so consistently?
Once you have a specific goal in mind, you must learn everything you need to know about it. For instance, you must learn:
How to perform weight exercises properly or you will not get the results you want and may even hurt yourself in the process,
How to study effectively or you’ll forget most of what you learn, or About healthy food, or you’ll think you’re eating healthily when you aren’t.
The most successful people on earth are obsessed with learning the fundamentals and there is a reason for this. Without strong fundamentals, your potential for growth is limited. Without the fundamentals, you can’t become great, let alone world-class at whatever you do.
Despite the fact he was already the best golfer in the world, Tiger Woods wanted to improve his game. To this end, he hired a coach, who told him he would have to change his swing. Yes, Tiger Woods decided he needed to relearn the fundamentals. Interestingly, Tiger Woods’ situation is not uncommon. When seeking to improve their performance, many world-class athletes return to the basics. This enables them to rebuild their craft from the ground up and take it to the next level.
To master the fundamentals, you need to:
Follow a step-by-step approach, Apply everything you learn, and
Return to the fundamentals as often as necessary.
Let’s review these three components.
Following a step-by-step approach
Without clear guidance and accountability, you’ll find it difficult to learn anything on your own. You need a blueprint, showing you what to do, step- by-step. The more structured your learning, the easier it will be to make progress.
This is something I’ve personally been struggling with. Eager to make progress, I often try to learn as quickly as possible, without giving myself enough time to assimilate the information or enough practice to build strong foundations. If you identify yourself as a seminar junkie, don’t worry, you can change—read on.
Whenever you enroll in a step-by-step course, I invite you to do the following:
Decide exactly how long you’ll spend on the course by setting a specific schedule.
Set aside blocks of time every day or every week. For instance, you could decide to dedicate one hour to the course every weekday.
Make sure you complete all the exercises in each lesson before moving on to the next.
Avoid taking more than one or two courses at a time. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to achieve great results with too many courses on your plate.
So, stick to one or two courses, schedule them and commit to obtaining tangible results before moving onto the next module or the next course.
Applying everything you learn
To master the fundamentals and make progress, you implement what you learn. Without implementation, no significant results are possible. Therefore,
whatever source of information you use, make sure you work on every actionable item available. This entails:
Doing everything your coach suggests,
Completing all the exercises in the course you take, and
Working through all the exercises outlined in the books you read (this one, for example).
Now, I understand you can’t always take action on all the information you consume. What you can do, however, is ensure that, for any major goal you set, take consistent action on everything you learn.
Returning to the fundamentals when necessary
Have you ever failed to achieve tangible results with a course or a book you bought? If so, you might need to revisit the fundamentals. Sometimes, overlooking one small detail can make all the difference between success and failure. It is also important that you learn to question yourself rather than the validity of the information you consume.
Once you’ve done your best to select high-quality information, avoid questioning its validity. Trust the program and take consistent action on it.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Have I really completed all the exercises diligently?
Have I missed anything?
You’ll often find you’ve neglected something. Remember, to become a master, you must practice everything until you become living proof of it.
For instance, let’s assume you bought a training course that offers a step-by- step method to sell your services but, after multiple attempts, you have yet to close a sale. Now, what may be missing? Are you following the script to the letter or are you trying to be fancy? Did you discard a few things you thought weren’t important? Avoid doing this. Instead, stick to the method exactly until you make your first sale. Remember, if others have used the method successfully, so can you.