Don’t Neglect the Fundamentals

https://youtu.be/L9R7cjcr1dY

Mastering the fundamentals of anything you’re trying to do and honoring the fundamentals of anything you’re trying to do is incredibly important. I learned that lesson once again this week, and let me explain a little bit.

Years ago when I started my training organization, I never expected it would get to the level that it’s gotten. It is way beyond where we ever thought would be. I never thought I’d have the largest organization in the field of Solution Focused Brief Therapy and the best selling books, and the biggest… I never saw any of that coming.

This all started because I really enjoyed talking to and working with Adam Froerer. That was it. We literally were meeting every single week talking about Solution Focused Brief Therapy because we enjoyed doing so with one another.

Well, as we’ve grown and as the company got built, things get more and more complicated and there’s more things pulling on our time, and then it’s harder for me to spend time around Adam. It’s harder for us to do the thing that fundamentally got us in the position that we got.

And then this week, it just kind of worked out. We came here to Toronto, we’re on our way to Calgary to do some more teaching, and it’s the first time in years, probably, that we were going to spend about a week together. And there’s nobody else from our team. Our cameraman’s not with us on this trip. Adam’s family’s not with us. It’s just he and I.

And at some point we were talking about how this feels like the good old days almost, and how that’s impacting us. We had some conversations today about what we need to do going forward. And it just felt like that same energy from the way things have been.

Now, I want to be clear. I’m not complaining about where we’ve gotten, but I’m just saying there’s another side of that coin. As we’ve gotten more successful and as we’ve accomplished more things, there’s more stuff pulling on our time, there’s more stuff pulling on our energy, and some of those things are in our personal lives with family, and other things are because of professional things that we have to do.

So we’re here on this teaching trip and we just talked for two days in Toronto. We’re about to teach for two more in Calgary. And sometimes people say, “I already know Solution Focused Brief Therapy.” But if you want to get really, really good at this approach, you have to master the fundamentals constantly. It’ll get you to where you need to be.

That’s what I want you guys to remember. The fundamentals matter.

Everybody’s always like, “I want advanced training. I want [this].” But actually greatness starts with fundamentals. I would never have been in this situation if Adam and I hadn’t just been talking weekly because we enjoyed one another. And we probably won’t get to the next level if we don’t remember that that was the foundation of what we did.

So always stick to the foundations. Never forget the importance of fundamentals. Never forget the foundation. Never forget that I know I wouldn’t have gotten to where I got if it wasn’t for those foundational things that we were doing in the beginning. And I won’t get to where I’m going if I forget how important that is.

So stick to the foundations. Stick to the fundamentals. It needs to always be a part of what you do. It’ll get you to where you’re going.