Fundamentals

I rewatched Logan—the Wolverine movie—a few days ago.

And while this isn’t the first time I realized it, it made me think about how much your current state of mind or current interests and curiosities shape the way you look at everything you see and hear.

Here’s what I mean.

The movie revolves around Wolverine—an otherwise insane mutant whose abilities include having razor-sharp claws he can extend and retract out of his knuckles at will as well as super-human regeneration, aka, everything he gets wounded, it’ll heal almost immediately—making him virtually unkillable.

But that’s not what we see in Logan.

No in the film we learn that the Adamantium—the metal that’s fused with his skeleton and what his claws are made from—inside his body has been poisoning him, making it so he’s slower, weaker, slowly dying, and only barely regenerates.

What does this have to do with anything?

See, this time around while watching, my mind immediately went “oh wow, that’s a great marketing lesson”.

Let me explain.

When building a business, if done right, you can make it so you can steal Wolverine’s power of super-human regeneration, or in business terms, you can survive, recover from, potentially even thrive, from everything that happens to you if you’ve got your foundations right (such as building a great relationship with your customers, backing up your list, and making sure you stay in constant contact through email).

But, and this is a big but.

You can still get sick, your business can still deteriorate and lose its powers…

When the disease finds itself on the inside.

If you’re making mistakes, if you’re messing things up, if you don’t understand your business fundamentals or your vital marketing principles, then your business doesn’t stand a chance.

So there.

A lesson from the man, the myth, the legend, Logan, The Wolverine, himself.

Anyway.

One of the best ways I know, according to my biased, but experienced and more-than-qualified self, is through my flagship course Email Valhalla.

Click this link for more information: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla/

I’m going bouldering later today for the first time in months.

For the past however long it may have been, I couldn’t go because of an injury that had to recover.

But now, with lot’s of physical therapy behind my back, a lot of specific exercises, and a whole lot of patience, well now I’m finally going to get back at it on the wall for the first time.

Yet it’s still going to be a different session than I’d normally have.

See, I’ve been told to build it up from the bottom again. To go slow and see how it goes. My shoulder injury hasn’t yet healed completely so I can’t just go all out again, that could easily mess up my shoulder once again and send me back another few months.

There’s just one big problem.

Doing the easy stuff and taking it slow, as if I was a beginner (the advice my physical therapist gave me) is boring as hell.

So, logically I had to come up with a new game plan.

Instead of doing the usual bouldering stuff I’d do—only a lot easier—I’ll turn this first session into a technique session where I’ll spend the entirety of my time improving my movement and practicing the fundamentals.

I won’t just be going through the movements on easier climbs.

I’ll purposely turn the “easy” climbs (aka, not difficult on my shoulder) into real challenges of technical skill. The purpose won’t be to finish the climb. The purpose will be to finish the climb as flawlessly and as efficiently as possible.

This is called “forward intent”.

Aka, making something more difficult than it needs to be with the sole purpose of improving your craft.

Forward intent, as well as going back to the basics and practicing your fundamentals, is something you can (and should) do in business as well.

Add constraints to the things you do, really focus on practicing you otherwise wouldn’t, and don’t skip the “boring” parts.

And if you’d like to know a nice way to start improving your craft, especially your email writing ability, then check out my flagship course Email Valhalla, where I hone in on the fundamentals to get your email writing capabilities to the next level.

Check it out here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla