Back to Basics, and Don’t Overthink It

You’re overthinking this.

You’ve got complex systems, detailed plans, and sophisticated strategies. You’re reading advanced books, following complex frameworks, and implementing intricate processes. Maybe you’ve coloured your to-do list in five different colours for what you have to do. Meanwhile, you’re ignoring the basics. The simple things that actually matter.

This is why you’re not getting results: you’re not building on the basics, maintaining the foundations. Foundations built on sand don’t hold, no matter how impressive the building looks on top.

The Overlooked Advantage

Something we often overlook is the advantage of having honed our basic skills. Often, when you fall flat or fail, you do so because you’ve overlooked something essential, something basic, or some simple necessary ingredient that’s missing.

The basics are easy to do but hard to master. Basic skills take repetition. They take time. They can even be boring. But to be adept at anything, the basics come first.

Research on skill acquisition shows that mastery of fundamentals is the single best predictor of advanced performance across all domains (Ericsson, 2008). The experts who make difficult things look easy do so because they’ve made the basics automatic.

The Foundation Problem

Sometimes people see the basics as too easy. They want to skip ahead to the advanced stuff, the sophisticated techniques, the complex strategies. But you should see the basic skills as solid foundations for future practice and a sound footing you can build upon to propel you well above the average person.

I see this constantly. People want to run marathons but can’t run 5K. They want to build businesses but can’t manage their own finances. They want exceptional relationships but can’t have a difficult conversation. They’re trying to build upward without laying essential groundwork.

Often, the basics for a happier life can be achieved by just addressing the basics of a healthy life and finding some purpose. Too often, you focus on the clutter, or worse, other people’s clutter. You fail to do what you need to do and fall short.

Studies on well-being consistently show that the fundamentals of sleep, nutrition, movement, and social connection account for more variance in life satisfaction than almost any other factors (Diener & Seligman, 2004). The basics aren’t boring. They’re essential.

What Are the Basics?

So what are the basics? They’re the simple skills you need to do well to do better. It could be getting more sleep, eating more healthily, or just getting out more.

Or the basics could be the small activities you need to do in your life to make things happen: making that call, writing that email, or for some, just turning up.

Focusing on the core of what’s important, focusing on the basic things you need to do every day can help the majority of you in some way. Doing less of what really doesn’t matter or what you don’t need to do is also the key.

I know a person who was convinced he needed an elaborate morning routine with meditation, journaling, cold showers, and a specific breakfast protocol. He never did any of it because it was too complicated. When we simplified it to ‘sleep eight hours and eat breakfast,’ he actually started doing it. The basics worked because he could actually maintain them.

Research on behaviour change shows that simpler interventions have higher adherence rates and better long-term outcomes than complex ones (Fogg, 2019). The basics stick because they’re manageable.

Preventing Overwhelm

Learning the basics prevents overwhelm. You go back to them when needed. They’re automatic. Overcomplication is at times a hindrance to success. A good backhand and a good forehand return are sometimes all you need to win the match.

Excellence is doing the basics well consistently, day in, day out. Only then can you concentrate on minor improvements and marginal gains. You can’t optimise what you haven’t mastered.

I see people who want more but will fail due to being inept at basic life skills. They want to be the best. They want more but seem unable to do even the basics, the things that need to be done first and the things they can build upon before they can even hope to achieve more.

Studies on expertise development show that elite performers spend more time on fundamentals than amateurs do (Ericsson et al., 1993). They don’t skip the basics. They perfect them. They make the basics automatic, and in doing so can rely on them in times of stress.

The Clutter Problem

For some, it’s not the basics. They’re good enough, but it’s the clutter that’s their burden. For them, letting go and getting back to basics is the key.

To get clarity, they need to be deliberately minimal. Do what’s needed and valued, what needs to be done daily, and remove other distractions.

You’ve got 47 productivity apps, 12 different planners, and a colour-coded system for categorising your tasks by urgency, importance, and energy level. Meanwhile, you haven’t actually completed a single important task because you’re too busy organising your system to complete tasks.

Research on decision fatigue suggests that excessive options and complicated systems can drain the mental energy that would otherwise go into actual execution (Baumeister, Vohs & Tice, 2007) — though the underlying ‘ego depletion’ theory has struggled to replicate in later, larger studies, so treat it as a plausible mechanism rather than settled science. Simplicity isn’t laziness. It’s strategic.

The Sports Analogy

Watch any elite athlete. They drill the basics constantly. Footballers practise passing. Pianists practise scales. Surgeons practise suturing. They don’t skip fundamentals to learn fancy tricks. They have solid fundamentals, so the advanced techniques become possible.

The basics give you options. When you’ve mastered the fundamentals, you can adapt to any situation because you have a solid foundation to build from. When you skip the basics, you’re stuck because you have no foundation.

Studies on motor learning show that time spent on basic movements predicts performance on complex movements better than time spent on complex movements themselves (Schmidt & Lee, 2011). Master simple, enable complex.

The Cake Before the Icing

Get back to basics. Learn what you really need to do, and master those skills daily. Or even just get back to basics.

Remember to get the cake right first before you think about the icing. You can’t polish what doesn’t exist. You can’t optimise what doesn’t work. You can’t build advanced on top of nonexistent.

The basics aren’t sexy. They don’t make good social media content. Nobody’s impressed when you tell them you slept eight hours, ate three meals, and went for a walk. But those basics, done consistently, will take you further than any complicated system you’re too overwhelmed to maintain.

Research on long-term success across multiple domains shows that consistency on fundamentals beats sporadic brilliance on advanced techniques (Clear, 2018). Boring basics, compound interest.

What You Need to Do

Strip away the complexity. Identify the three to five basic things you actually need to do every day. Not the 47 things on your elaborate system. The actual basics.

For health: sleep, movement, nutrition. For work: show up, do the work, communicate clearly. For relationships: listen, be present, follow through. That’s it. That’s the foundation.

Master those basics first. Do them every day. Do them well. Only then, if you still need more complexity, add it. But most of the time, you won’t need more. The basics, done consistently, are enough.

Stop looking for advanced solutions to basic problems. Get the fundamentals right. The rest will follow.

Further reading

• Ericsson, K. A. (2008). Deliberate practice and acquisition of expert performance: A general overview. Academic Emergency Medicine, 15(11), 988–994.
• Diener, E., & Seligman, M. E. (2004). Beyond money: Toward an economy of well-being. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5(1), 1–31.
• Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363–406.
• Schmidt, R. A., & Lee, T. D. (2011). Motor Control and Learning: A Behavioral Emphasis (5th ed.). Human Kinetics.
• Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Avery.