The Basics Are Never Basic
In high-performance spaces—whether on the track, in the classroom, or at a chessboard—it’s easy to get caught chasing the advanced stuff. People are quick to focus on strategy, edge cases, or hacks that promise faster results. I’ve been there myself. But time and time again, I’ve learned that the real power lies in the basics.
Mastering the fundamentals is not flashy. It’s not always exciting. But it builds the kind of foundation that supports everything else. Whether I was practicing jump drills in hurdling, studying economic models in college, or building out data frameworks in a team setting, the same truth kept showing up. If you skip the fundamentals, you might move faster at first, but you will struggle when things get hard.
And things always get hard eventually.
Track and Field: Repetition Builds Results
One of the clearest lessons in fundamentals came from my time as a hurdler. To someone watching from the stands, a hurdles race looks like a fast blur of movement. But what makes a good hurdler is not speed alone. It’s rhythm, form, and timing. And you don’t develop that through random sprints. You develop it through endless repetition.
In high school, we practiced the same drills over and over. Lead leg. Trail leg. Three-step rhythm between hurdles. None of it felt glamorous. But those small technical skills made all the difference when race day came.
You don’t win because you did something flashy in the moment. You win because you did the boring things well every single day. That lesson has stuck with me in everything I do.
Chess: Start with the End in Mind
Chess is another example. Beginners often want to memorize openings or go straight to studying grandmaster games. But the players who improve fastest are the ones who focus on basic tactics, simple endgames, and pattern recognition.
I spent a lot of time early on just solving puzzles—forks, pins, discovered attacks. The better I got at seeing those basic ideas, the more confident I became at playing deeper, more strategic positions. Advanced play only works when it rests on solid fundamentals. Without that, the board becomes overwhelming.
Chess taught me that depth comes from starting small and building up with intention. The players who last the longest are the ones who respect the basics and revisit them constantly.
UChicago and NYU: Academic Rigor Starts with Clarity
In my academic life, the importance of fundamentals showed up in a different but equally clear way. At the University of Chicago, our coursework pushed us to understand not just what a model was, but where it came from. We couldn’t skip steps. We had to know the logic behind every formula and the assumptions behind every argument.
That mindset carried over to NYU, where I worked on more applied analysis. It became even more clear that the quality of any insight depends on the clarity of your foundation. If your core logic is shaky, no visualization or presentation can save it.
In both places, I learned that complex thinking is built on clear thinking. And clear thinking comes from spending real time on the basics.
Fundamentals Are Not Just Skills—They’re Habits
One thing I’ve realized is that fundamentals are not just about knowledge. They’re also about habits. How do you prepare? How do you recover? How do you respond when something doesn’t go as planned?
In every high-performance environment I’ve been in, the people who thrive are not just talented. They’re consistent. They show up with routines. They do the little things right—whether that’s rechecking their work, getting enough sleep, or being present in team meetings. Those habits compound over time.
Discipline, focus, humility—these are fundamentals too. They don’t always show up on a résumé, but they’re what makes long-term success possible.
Fundamentals Help You Adapt
When things get chaotic, the basics are what ground you. If a race goes off-plan or a model breaks or a team pivots unexpectedly, you fall back on what you’ve trained to do. You breathe. You reset. You simplify.
Fundamentals give you that stability. They help you stay calm under pressure. They remind you that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time. You just need to return to what you know and trust your process.
That mindset has helped me stay steady through challenges—whether academic, professional, or personal. And it’s a mindset I try to practice and protect every day.
Final Thoughts: Keep Coming Back to the Basics
I still get excited about learning new things, exploring edge cases, or pushing myself into more advanced challenges. But I’ve learned to do that without skipping steps. I’ve learned that going deep starts with going steady.
The fundamentals may not get attention. But they deserve respect. They’re not just the beginning—they’re the throughline. They hold everything together.
So whether I’m solving a problem, preparing for a big project, or just trying to grow in small ways, I remind myself of this: You don’t need to do something flashy to make progress. You just need to do the right things, the simple things, again and again, until they become second nature.
That’s where the real power is. And that’s what I’ll keep showing up for.