Evan Carmichael argues that success requires relentless, continuous work, not hitting a target number of practice hours. He cites Bill Bradley's mantra: "When you are not practicing, remember someone somewhere is practicing." True progress comes from solitary effort and tangible results, not external praise.
Chapters
Work, work, work. You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do. Sure, you get it. You know that you're eventually going to have to get to work and that work might be quite difficult. Maybe you think you've already started, but do you really understand? Do you have any idea just how much work there is going to be? Not work until you get your big break, not work until you make a name for yourself, but work, work, work forever and ever. Is it 10,000 hours or 20,000 hours? How many hours to mastery? The answer is it doesn't matter. There is no end zone. To think of a number is to live in a conditional future. We're simply talking about a lot of hours. That to get where we want to go isn't about brilliance but continual effort. That's the reality. How we respond to challenge and where we decide to put our energy decides what we'll ultimately accomplish. As a young basketball player, Bill Bradley would remind himself, "When you are not practicing, remember someone somewhere is practicing." If you meet him, he will win. The Bible says something similar in its own way. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. You can lie to yourself saying that you put in the time or pretend that you're working, but eventually someone will show up. You'll be tested and quite possibly found out. Since Bradley went on to be an All-American, a Rhodes Scholar, then a 2-time champion with the New York Knicks, and a US Senator, you get the sense that this sort of dedication will take you places. So we must have it because there is no triumph without toil. Work is finding yourself alone on the track when the weather kept everyone else indoors. Work is pushing through the pain and crappy first drafts and prototypes. It is ignoring whatever plaudits others are getting and more importantly ignoring whatever plaudits you may be getting because there is work to be done. Work doesn't want to be good, it is made so despite the headwind. If you need to feel confidence or pride in anything, take it in here. There is another old expression: You know a workman by the chips they leave. It's true. To judge your progress properly, just take a look at the floor. The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their competition slept, were toiled upward in the night. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
