BACK TO BASICS

I was thinkin about how things get complicated, confused and eventually off-course. I believe it happens when we move too far away from the basics. Think about it . . . sports always rests on the best basics. Swing the bat through the ball and follow-through; keep the ball in front of you to make the catch -- and always keep your eyes on the ball!!!! The same holds true for other sports, tennis, karate, gymnastics. There are basic concepts and moves upon which mastery is built. School subjects rest on the basics as well. Math requires first and foremost basic understanding and facility with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Once those are mastered, you can move into algebra, geometry, etc. In order to read and write, learn to say, recognize and write your ABCs. Spell well and construct good sentences. Build sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into essays, etc. But, if you haven't mastered the basics, communicating in writing will not be effective. Business works the same. What are the basics? If we excel at the basic level of business, we have the foundation to move forward. If we clean floors for a living, then we must never lose sight of the fact that clean floors are what we are hired to provide. by the way, I know an exceptional man who provides that service and whose personal ethics require that he never give less than his best! A truly exceptional floor cleaning business cannot be built without total attention and dedication to the basic requirement of providing clean floors. Our relationships are the same. What are the basics? Offering ourselves in honesty to each other. Bringng the best we have to offer (and remember, that varies from day to day), and helping to bring out the best in each other. It means working to cover our friends' weaknesses by illuminating their strengths. It means encouraging their right actions while not encouraging harmful actions. It means not speaking behind one anothers' backs. I have learned as a mother of teens that I must often come back to the basics to provide the best for my household. And those basics are: get and keep the house clean -- everyone must be involved; provide my love and encouragement to the members of my house -- there are plenty of other people waiting to take them down outside; be availabloe and be cheerful. Lots of hugs are pretty basic, too. Take some time to consider which parts of your life are sliding off-track and consider getting back to basics!