Members Only Post #153 – Why Mastering The Basics Is The Best Thing That You Can Do

A long time ago I wrote a book called The Primer, it was the first book that I’d ever written and one that I tried to distill all of the information I’ve gotten in my short time on this earth for others. I wanted to give to others easy what I had gotten hard. To me the point of all, or at least most, nonfiction. And when I look back at that book I think about how valuable it still is throughout all this time. Because here’s the thing.

Most people need to get the basics right. Most of us are worried about high level things when we can’t even get the basics right and a better understanding and application of the basics is what we need. It’s like a boxer who has a shitty jab worrying about switching heading and a hands down defense. You need to get the jab right, or at least better, at a higher level, before you worry about that other stuff.

So it is with every facet and part of life. Get the basics right and other things will take care of themselves for the most part. In The Primer I focused on core key habits that can change a man’s life when implemented. None of them are things you haven’t heard of, none of them are “secrets” in the normal sense of the word. They’ll all pretty basic things.

But that’s the power of the book. It’s all about covering and mastering the basics.

The Basics Of Life & Mastering Them

Maybe mastering is the wrong word here, I don’t mean mastering as in you’ll never have to think of them again. I mean mastering them as in making them a core part of your life. Things like eating a healthy diet, getting good rest, having some form of exercise both physically and mentally, working on spiritual development, avoiding the numbing agents such as weed, porn, and alcohol. All things you’ve heard a million times, but it doesn’t matter if you’ve heard something, what matters is if you’re accomplishing it or not.

If you’ve made it a daily habit. I like to look over myself and my life from time to time and look for areas where I may have slacked off in. Am I doing a good job getting myself where I want to be money wise? Am I where I want to be physically, mentally, and spiritually? What do my habits look like? Are there any bad habits that have crept in or that I’ve failed to deal with properly? What can replace those bad habits or how can I shore up bad ones that are starting to creep in.

Honest self-reflection is one of the most valuable tools that you have, yet it can also be one of the most devastating, at least at first. I remember it was over a decade now when I say down and looked at myself and where I was headed and what I was doing and found it was shit, all of it was shit. I was mired in shit and saw no way of getting out of it. My life wasn’t where I wanted, my goals were languishing, and my habits were horrible. I was riddled with bad habits and a life that reflected it.

I’d like to say “Oh, I just self-reflected and then next year everything’s working great.” but that’s not how it worked. After being horrified by what I saw upon self-reflection I didn’t bury myself in self-improvement or work right away. I screwed around a little and worked at it haphazardly, which actually got me better results then not working on it at all, but I needed more.

I kept learning and applying what I learned and was able to get out of where I was, after years of work. But none of that would have started without honest self-reflection, as painful as it was, especially at that time. But sometimes you have to look at yourself and honestly say “I don’t like what I see and I like even less where I’m headed.” this doesn’t mean you don’t like yourself at your core, it means you don’t like what you see, what you’re becoming.

But luckily that can be fixed, and focusing on the basics is the way to fix it.

Tools To Master The Basics

Before attempting huge goals it’s best to clean up your life and get the basics in order. If you can’t run a mile you have no business stepping into ring and all that. So look at the basics. What’s your diet look like? Do you eat plenty of meat for muscle building protein and hormone helping fat? Do you exercise? Physically? Mentally as well? Because the mind is a terrible thing to waste. How do you control stress? Do you meditate, spend time in nature? The chronic stress of the modern world will destroy you physically, mentally, and spiritually if you let it.

How are you habits? Do you numb yourself and to your state in life through weed, tobacco, porn, and alcohol? Or something else? Or do you rid yourself of those habits and instead replace them with things that add to your life, all the while facing where your life is. If you don’t like something, don’t numb yourself to it, work day and night to fix it or change your circumstances. Never underestimate willpower and don’t believe the nerds in lab coats who think they have it figured out. They don’t, just like everything else.

Use The Primer, yeah that’s a blatant plug for my book but so what? I designed it to be the best resource exactly for this purpose. Make use of it, for a couple bucks you can get what it took me roughly five years to learn and put together. A hell of a deal if you ask me. And let’s be frank if you’re not willing to spend a couple of bucks on your development and advancement in life then you’re not serious about getting better, you’re not serious about improving, and you’re not serious about getting the most out of life.

And don’t kid yourself otherwise, kidding yourself never has good consequences.

Honesty Is The Root To Development

If you can’t be honest with yourself, if you can’t see yourself clearly, you’re going to have a hard time going down the right path for your life. If you have trouble seeing yourself the first step is clearing out the numbing agents. Stop numbing yourself into a stupor with them, whatever they may be. Cut them out of your life and though it might be harsh, look at yourself with all the fog stripped away.

If you don’t like what you see then you know what to do, you know what needs to be done. Have a realistic yet empowered view of yourself. Realize that you may not be where you want, you may in fact be in opposite state from what you want, but also realize that you can change and if you dedicate yourself to mastering the basics, will change that.

Pick up The Primer on amazon if you want help with this, that’s why I wrote it.