If you want to consistently win in business, then I have the perfect exercise for you.
But first let me explain……
I was watching the summer olympics a few days ago, and I tuned into the final basketball game between France and the U.S. Whether you’re a basketball fan or not, it was teeth clenching!!!.
There were a number of fouls in the game (if you’re not familiar with basketball, they get to shoot twice on a foul and they get one point for every basket made).
The thing is, when France went up to take their foul shots, they missed most of them. Sometimes they got 1 out of 2 of their baskets… and sometimes 0 out of 2.
On the other hand, every time the Americans had an opportunity to shoot a foul shot, they sank it much more predictably.
What I realized is that foul shots are part of the basics.
They are a super basic skill that all basketball players learn early on.
They’re not elaborate, fancy, or all that interesting.
This reminded me of a story I heard about Kobe Bryant. A coach was watching him practice – to see what Kobe did, learn from him, and figure out what made him one of the greatest players in history.
But what ended up happening was…
Kobe practiced the basics. Over and over and over and over again.
At the end of that practice, Kobe asked the coach, “So, what did you learn?”
And the coach said, “I’m actually surprised. I didn’t get what I thought I’d get out of this at all.”
See, the coach was expecting fancy techniques and elaborate practice. New skills, new shots, new exercises.
Instead, he saw this incredible athlete who was a world-leader in his sport… practicing basic shot after basic shot after basic shot. Again and again and again.
Here’s what we learn…
If you can’t 100% predict what you’re going to do on the basics, how in the world do you expect to be consistent on the higher-level skills?
The moment we believe, “I’ve already been there, done that. I’m above the basics now,” we knock ourselves out of the possibility of getting better, stronger, and more refined.
We eliminate our chances of mastering our craft.
We remove ourselves from the leaderboard.
We miss out on predictable results.
Entitlement – thinking that you’re too advanced for the basics – will kill your business. When you believe that the basic skills are too menial for you, you stunt your growth or worst yet, slide backwards.
Starting today, practice your basics. Put in the reps. Approach the basics of your business like a beginner would. Stay humble. Refine your craft. You never outgrow the basics.
Practice them.
Exercise them.
If you break that entitlement barrier and dig into the basics… you build a foundation of predictability and strength that most will never have the patience to achieve.
Putting in the reps opens the door to mastery and creates opportunities to win consistently in business. Miss a shot. Take another and another. Until those shots happen without thinking, without trying, without efforting…
Because you’ve done it so many times before… and you still keep doing it.
Even when you’re bored.
Even when you don’t feel like it.
Even when you feel so confident that you don’t need the practice, you do.
Stay hungry. Stay strong. Put in those reps.