I hope you took to heart last week’s Point about fun. I hope even more that you’ve since looked for opportunities to have fun and enjoy a few big ol’ belly laughs. Studies have shown that laughter is a powerful antidote to stress, pain and conflict. In fact, nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a really good laugh. Here’s something else: Laugh, and you’ll do others some good, too. Humor is infectious. The sound of roaring laughter is far more contagious than any cough, sniffle or sneeze. And isn’t that the best news you’ve heard about contagions in a long while?

So, starting on a good, fun note, let’s move forward with our focus on The 7F’s of True Success. We’ll begin at the beginning with the first F—work Fundamentals. In my business coaching, I’m known for preaching (this relates to another of the 7F’s, but that’s for another week) the importance of focusing on the fundamentals of a job. Any job. What I’ve learned is that if you focus on the fundamentals of a job, a sport, a profession, a hobby, etc.—you get better. You just do. And the better you get at anything, the greater your chances at achieving your potential and then overachieving it, too.

The fact is, we can’t all be #1. But to me, that isn’t the real point in the game of life. The point is to be the best we can be, to reach our potential in whatever we do.

At a planning session I facilitated last month, we discussed the selling fundamentals for that specific industry. Before I shared my list of these fundamentals, I had everyone in the group make their own lists. Funny thing: When we reviewed everyone’s lists, they were pretty much the same (and their lists mirrored my list; theirs were more expanded, of course, since it was industry specific). This wasn’t coincidence. Rather, it showed me (and the larger group) that most businesspeople know the fundamentals of what it takes to make it rain. The challenge lies in the day-to-day execution of what to do. And that’s where my business-coaching model, with its emphasis on accountability, comes into play.

So this week, I encourage you to think about and then really focus on the fundamentals of your job. Get out of the day-to-day swarm and focus on the most basic keys to your success.


Here’s the thing: Fundamentals starts with “fun.” (See how this all comes together? And we’re not even talking about the Fusion part of my 7F’s yet!) While it might not be fun to focus on the fundamentals (you have to be disciplined!), it certainly is fun when you become a rainmaker, when your company is the “company of the year,” when you become the go-to person in your industry. Your success at work depends upon how well you execute day-in and day-out the fundamentals of your job. If you want to achieve your true potential (and you wouldn’t be reading this unless you really want to do what you do better) you have to focus on the fundamentals.