Great success doesn't require amazing moments of brilliance. It's not a result of finding some magic secret. Sustained success comes from a willingness to do the hard, sometimes annoying work required day after day. The good news? You have more control in that than you might think.

Read on: blog.WednesdayWin.com​

Read time: 4 minutes

If success is a result of mundane, difficult work, how can you leverage that understanding to improve the journey? Let's explore:

1. Skip the search for a magic shortcut

Nothing matters more than this simple concept: there is no magic shortcut. Some businesses are easier than others. Some skills are easier to master than others.

But no success comes without hard work. You must be willing to do the hard, mundane tasks that others distain and avoid. That doesn't mean work must be 24/7 drudgery, but you can't just wish good things into existence.

• Stop looking for shortcuts and get to it
• Remember, everything looks easy until you start
• Don't be fooled by others' overnight success; the work is there even if you can't see it

2. Embrace, don't avoid

If the path to long-term success is by hard work, now it's time to focus and embrace the tasks that must be done. Make the calls. Knock on doors. Show up as promised. Deliver for your customers.

Don't ignore failures. Be honest about mistakes. When looking for a way around your biggest problems, it's usually better just to plough right through.

One of the greatest business motivational speeches ever given illustrates this idea perfectly. In 1987, Art (A. L.) Williams gave a talk at a convention about "Winning in Business in the United States." For those who know, it's called the "Just do it" speech. Take a moment now to watch a recording or at least read the transcript, I'll wait. I listen and re-listen to the last five and half minutes whenever I need some encouragement.

• Just do the work
• Embrace the reality that doing just a little bit more is what it takes to achieve outsized success
• Build healthy habits and set high standards

3. Lead by streamlining

As a leader, you are responsible for fighting the growth of overhead and make work tasks that flow to your team. Don't create cumbersome make work tasks like reporting no one reads, elaborate processes one has to follow to get simple assistance or complete common tasks.

Be ruthless in fighting the natural growth of bureaucratic processes that serve the designer of the process, but not the ones who must live by them. Be self-critical here, too. What have you added to tasks? Are you demanding new cover sheets for the TPS reports? Relieve your team.

Success comes from doing the hard work consistently, but it's your job to ensure that no one is adding pointless work on top of the core functions of your organization.

And, that pointless work is guaranteed to emerge if you don't fight it hard.

• Remove the overhead and fight its rebirth
• Free your team to do the work consistently without unnecessary burden
• The hallmark of a high-functioning team is consistent work with just enough process to stay focused and deliver
• Less overhead requires strong leadership, but that's why you're here

4. Excel by offloading

As you grow and expand your network by either leading a team or running your own enterprise, the priority must become delegation. Keeping too much work to yourself only slows you down and prevents growth for your team.

Yes, the work must be done, and no, likely no one will care as much about your priorities as you do, but this is the work of a leader. You must find ways to get the work done without every aspect flowing through you.

Set the agenda. Make clear priorities. Establish mechanisms that inform you of progress and then let it go. The process is iterative so fix as you go.

• The only way to get more of the necessary work done is to delegate
• Whether to employees, vendors, or automation tools, find ways to complete the work without doing it yourself
• This is the essence of effective management, so dive in and make it work for you

Action Summary

Be willing to do the work that others try to avoid is a key to unlocking growth and advancement. And, as a leader, working to reduce needless overhead from your team's work can help power them to new heights.

• Skip the shortcut search and get to work
• Embrace the hard work and grow fast
• Streamline work for your team
• Offload as much of the work as you can when you can

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What do you think? Do you think there's another way? Reply to this email and let me know.

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To your success,

Christopher

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P.S. Like this one? You'll probably want to check out this earlier Wednesday Win essay on how important working in the right environment is, too.

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