#HWBTWTDWH
Action and execution are the only means that will move you towards your goals. They will always have a larger stake in the value rendered than any groundbreaking idea, any bulletproof plan, or talent and genius. Don't get me wrong: great ideas, plans and talent are all viable multipliers. However, without execution they will not make any difference. Thus there's one law to career making and success in business or life in general: Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. And for the work part, there’s good news: smooth and steady effort is more effective than sporadic strong effort. 'Hard work' thus should not be understood as excessive, over ambitious but sporadic work, but as a steady and sustainable flow of effort over a long period of time. The compound effect will make the difference. It is like throwing dice: It's not about trying to throw the maximum sum with one or a few handfuls. It's about accumulating the desired results over time by minimizing the chance of failure over time to a point, where you eventually eliminate any real chance of not succeeding.
You can not beat anyone who has been running/playing the piano/saving money on a regular basis over 10 years or more than you by undertaking a strong and focused effort in a significantly shorter time. That's like trying to sprint to victory in a marathon. That’s just not the way humans work.
Compound Effect of the Steady Flow
The first time I read about Jeff Bezos in a German newspaper was in the late 90s. I wish I had saved the article, because as far as I can remember he was depicted as a kind of visionary and mad scientist. Only Jeff Bezos will know, how many cardboard boxes he had packed single handedly in his basement, before he could dedicate his efforts towards higher value tasks, let alone before he broke even with his enterprise. And he must have done a lot of things right, but vastly more things wrong along the way. I found instant inspiration in his vision and his remarkable enthusiasm in form of an outstanding effort to take retail online (at the time amazon only shipped books). Thus I quickly felt sympathy for his enterprise. I remember when I bought my first amazon stocks a little later for the price of 16€ (18$) each. Today a single amazon stock is somewhere around the 3300$ mark. My point is, this has not been a lucky punch or an overnight success. There's no such thing in life as an overnight success, except maybe in fairy tales or in Hollywood movies.
Flaws of the 'Conceit, Believe, Achieve' Model
The greatest threat I see in this model is that it invites for a short sighted goal setting instead of going for strategic goals. After Jan Frodeno had won the Beijing Olympic games triathlon in 2008 he dipped into a period of lacking motivation. His goal was specifically to win the Olympic games. Upon its achievement he faced a void. Had he picked his goal more wisely, e.g. 'Be the most successful world class athlete in olympic triathlon', I am sure one victory only would not have satisfied him or made as severe an impact, as the win of the olympic title did for him in the end. The problem with goals is, once you reach them, you have to set yourself new goals. If you do this a few times, your next goal will just be another goal. There are viable and interesting solutions to prevent this from happening, which might be the topic of another post #identityvsachievement.
Another flaw I see in the model is that it is focused on results and oversimplifies the human psyche in a way that may lead to the opposite of motivation: frustration. If you feel regularly overwhelmed by the magnitude of the outcome or you fall in a spiral of negative thoughts because you don't achieve the results or milestones you expected along the way, you may lose your faith and thus abandon your plan. You will need an exceptionally strong will or deep faith to sail across those waters. Not everybody has the iron will and the relentless drive or ambition of a world champion. Gladly there are ways to help motivational drawbacks other than pure will and mental strength. But again that might be the subject of a different post #motivationcheatmode.
Comments