Even if you love your business, sport or organization, there are always going to be things that have to be done to win. And those are exactly the kinds of things that the average and mediocre can’t get themselves to do. That’s why they’ll never be you.
Success is something you earn by effort.
You aren’t doing things no one else except you can do. You’re just doing more – you’re doing it longer, with a little more attention to detail and more consistency. You don’t cut corners when others do. You don’t just work when others are watching because you know that when it comes time to compete, if you haven’t put in the effort and attention to detail that someone else has, they’ll beat you.
It’s the “doing what you don’t want to do” that puts you ahead of the others.
They won’t do it. They can’t push themselves like you can. As a result, you have just a little more experience, skill and toughness. No one can tell – it doesn’t show – that is, it doesn’t show until the game is on; the pressure is on – winning time.
Work harder or smarter?
While the winner works, the rest look for ways to get there naturally, with less effort. They say they want to work smarter.
Here’s the secret: The first step in working smarter is working harder, not less. Why? Because smarter only beats harder when smarter is working harder too.
Bill Orender had an interesting conversation about this subject early in his career with his wife Carol:
My wife, Carol said to me one time, Bill, you just love making phone calls. I said, you’ve got to be kidding! I hate making phone calls. I just love the results I get from making them! When I started out with the company, I was on that phone non-stop. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t enjoy it either. I just knew if I made the effort, the success would come. (From Chapter 4 of my book How Million Dollar Earner Bill Orender Found His Way to the Top)
