Is there any skill where basics are not important?

Two Reasons why Basics are Crucial to Learning a New Subject

The Chandogya Upanishad mentions a story about Shvetaketu the son of Udalaka Rishi. Shvetaketu has completed his education and meets his father.

The pride-filled Shvetaketu looked like a deflated balloon. All his education did not equip him to answer this question. Then his father explains that understanding the fundamental nature of an object is the key to knowledge.

If you know the nature of clay, you can understand all the varied clay idols. If you know the nature of gold, you can fathom the multitude of ornaments.

This story to me is symbolic of the importance of learning the basics in any form of knowledge.

#1: The taller the building, the lower the depth of the foundation

We build our further understanding of a subject on the foundation of basics. When Elon Musk started out with his audacious plan to build a reusable rocket people mocked him. Musk broke down the problem into its First Principles.

This to me was going back to the basics of a problem rather than assuming that we know everything.

#2: Learn the notes before you play the song

If you have ever tried to pick up a guitar and give up, it might be because you wanted to start by playing songs. The boring way would be to learn the strumming pattern, practice the fret positions and the chords. But these basics are the crucial ones that will help you to play your favourite songs.

When you find yourself stuck in a subject, skill, project etc take a moment to focus on the basics. Like the saying goes,

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