How important are fundamentals in life and business? As a matter of fact, how important are fundamentals in anything worthwhile? There aren’t many things in life that can be accomplished without a foundation that’s built upon strong fundamentals. Think about it: Would football be football without blocking and tackling? It would just be a wild free-for-all. Every great athlete, business person, or artist knows the importance of fundamentals. There is a name for teams and individuals who have the very best fundamentals… They’re called champions.
Champions are experts at the basics. We’ve all heard the expression from people in business and sports who say, “We need to go back to the basics.” We hear it so much that it has become a cliché. But it’s not…it’s true!
Legendary basketball coach John Wooden won ten NCAA Championships in twelve years (With an unprecedented winning streak of seven championships in a row!) in large part because of his intense focus on the fundamentals. He created a dynasty at UCLA. (I’d highly recommend watching the documentary, UCLA Dynasty. It’s powerful!) Coach Wooden also had fundamental philosophy’s that he shared with his players. He assembled something called, The Pyramid of Success. It is a set of cornerstone principles that can guide someone to a successful life. It’s actually illustrated as a pyramid with a set of guidelines in each block.
Coach Wooden also had great sayings that he would reference such as, “Be quick, but don’t hurry” and “Failure to plan is planning to fail.” He never talked about winning. He talked with his players about being the best they could be as individuals. He encouraged them not to compare themselves to others, but instead, to be their very best. He talked about personal greatness. He defined personal greatness as, “Being your best when your best is needed.” Every UCLA Championship Season started with coach Wooden teaching his players how to properly put on their socks. He wanted to make sure that their feet would not get blisters while they were playing. Many of his former players would laugh about how every new season, year after year, they would learn how to properly put on their socks. Coach Wooden was also famous for using 3x5 index cards to run his practice drills. Every fundamental that was needed to excel at the game of basketball was found on those 3x5 cards. His players would remark that Coach Wooden would run the same practice drills before a championship game as he did on the first day of practice. He knew that in order to be great, his team needed to be great at the basics.
“Perfection consists not in doing ordinary things, but in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well” - Stradivarius
Yours in Rotary,
Tony Parziale