Winning With The Basics

Success can only be achieved with TALENT? Absolute rubbish. Stop worrying about talent and make success easy by winning with the Basics.

Do you think you need talent to succeed? Only if you’re planning on becoming a professional golfer or an opera singer, and even so, talent is developed over time. Some things do require some inherent talent if you’re going to succeed at it, but we often forget about the most basic necessities for success – the things that require absolutely zero talent and no training at all. Practice makes perfect, and winning with the basics gets you closer to that. Things that we can start doing right away. Things like:

1. Being on Time: Simply being there when you need to be there, and that’s it! This is one of the most simple characteristics of every successful person. This requires absolutely zero talent, and at the very least some basic time management. This makes your employer respect you and value you as an employee that they can rely on, no matter what. Who will be eligible for an increase or a promotion? The one who shows up on time, of course.

2. Having Integrity: Integrity and work ethic is something you can’t teach even if you tried, and it’s one of the most basic ingredients in the recipe to success. It means knowing that your hard work will be rewarded, and understanding that there can be no reward without hard work.

3. Effort: Which leads us to a very important little word called effort! The amount of effort you put into something has a direct effect on the rewards you will reap at the end of the day. If you’re not going to put effort into something, you might as well not do it. Thomas Edison said: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

4. Attitude: I like to think of attitude as fuel for your effort. If you approach something with a healthy attitude, you will put far more effort into it. Your attitude is the easiest thing to change if you really want to start seeing a difference. Keep it positive and remember that “attitude will define your altitude”.

5. Passion: Showing passion for what you do costs absolutely nothing. Being passionate about something means you’ll go further than what is expected of you. Remember that it doesn’t necessarily mean being passionate about what you do, but rather how you do it. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said: “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. “

6. Being Coachable: Simply opening yourself up for some coaching or good advice can make the world’s difference. Often the best coaching can come from the most unlikely of sources, and it’s up to you to be open to that source of wisdom, whatever or whoever it is. Who wants to pour water into a glass that’s already full? Remain ‘empty’ and you may actually learn something new and doors will magically open for you.

7. Doing Extra: No successful person ever settled for doing the bare minimum. If you’re only doing your work to get it done as quickly as possible, you’ll never realise your potential. Push yourself to deliver that extra little bit of something special, and that’s what will set you apart. Author Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. How many hours have you put in?

8. Being Prepared: To be prepared is half the victory. Again, no talent or training needed, just some good old foresight. Take five minutes to evaluate and prepare, and you will be unstoppable no matter what the day throws at you.

9. Being Honest: Any job assigned to a person should be done with utmost honesty, without double-dealing or untruthfulness. It will make your life a lot easier and it’s much easier than being dishonest. Best of all, it won’t get you into a world of trouble.

10. Being Responsible: When you are made responsible for an area, your employer expects you to be trustworthy. One of the basics is taking responsibility not to break the trust being put in you. Being responsible is at the core of good work values, and is not to be taken lightly.

Stop worrying about talent and focus on winning at the basics. The world’s most intricate, beautiful buildings are often built on the most basic foundations of brick and stone, and they wouldn’t be able to stand tall without their foundations. Once your basic foundation has been laid, you can start building your masterpiece on top of it.