All tagged Focus on the fundamentals
The reality of markets is that they move up or down, driven by a wide range of variables, not all of them predictable.
When they’re up, we tend to think everything is rosy and those companies reaping the benefits can do no wrong (or at least very little wrong). Conversely, when they’re down, we think the world is going to hell in a handbasket, and there’s nothing that can be done right, so best to beware.
Years ago, I was developing a website when someone I worked with asked me what I was doing about SEO. As I explained my thoughts, it became clear that he was less interested (if at all) in the fundamentals of SEO (strong content) than he was in how we could best ‘game’ the system.
I suggested that tricking the Google algorithm wouldn’t be a great strategy, and certainly not one that could be considered long-lasting.
Today's episode focuses on the one and only fundamental of success - doing the work.
Our role models from the sports to the business worlds understand this. The one commonality amongst all of them is that they've paid their dues. They put in the effort and did what was needed to lay the foundation for their success. If we aspire to that success, we need to do the same.
If you look at your role and what you do on a day to day basis, the fact is that at least 70% of your time should be focused on doing your core work.
To say it more clearly, there’s typically one thing that is the raison d’etre of our work, and the vast majority of our time should be focused on that specific thing.
Cas Hardware - a small hardware retail business in my neighborhood - closed its doors recently after 41 years. It had become a fixture of the Andersonville community and was a place where “the management” was folks you could get to know, who would be on hand to answer your questions, give advice if you needed it and take care of any purchases you needed to make.
I was thinking about the Dotcom era of the late 90s and the euphoria that gripped the markets for those few years as stocks climbed to record breaking levels.
The news of the day was engaged in a fevered debate - were we in a new era, one where the old models had become hopelessly outdated? Or was this simply another fad, not unlike Dutch Tulips, a bubble that would burst in due course, once we all came to our senses?
When sportsmen are learning to find their feet again after a long injury, or when they’re struggling with their form and looking to get their performance back on track, the advice they’re given isn’t involved or complex. They’re not told to undergo elaborate programs that will restore their physical and/or psychological state back to their prior peak.
Sometime between late Spring and early Fall, 1996, AOL’s stock fell from a high of $70 all the way down to $24.
These were the early days of the internet. The space was booming: startups were popping up everywhere, investors’ ears were perking up, and the big, established players were taking notice and/or beginning to get involved.
