Reframing the Difficult Work it Takes To Go from Good to Great
To go from good to great is difficult work. Whether it’s the 10,000 hours concept that Anders Ericsson explains, or the hedgehog and flywheel concept that Jim Collins explains, it takes both an extreme amount of time and effort to rise from good to great.
Overcoming the difficult hurdle of time and effort is the ultimate deterrent. So much so that most people quit before they even start once they find out how hard the process is to become the best in the world at something. While it may not be culturally acceptable to acknowledge one is settling for being average, it’s what most people do anyway.
However, if you are not most people, then I suggest before you start on the grueling process to go from good to great, to reframe this work mentally. Reframing is a mental skill that helps change how you judge the logic around a situation, which in turn changes your perception. When you change your perception of a situation, you can change your motivation and emotions.
In this case, to reframe the difficult work it takes to go from good to great I suggest starting with this simple quote from the great Seth Godin:
If it were easy then everyone else would find it easy as well. Which would make it awfully difficult to do important work…
…When difficulties arise, it might very well be good news. Because those difficulties may dissuade all the people who aren’t as dedicated as you are.
Using this logic, you can reframe what’s difficult to being a good thing instead of a bad thing. In other words, the deterrent of time and effort is exactly what you want. If everyone is doing something because it’s easy, then when you do it, it won’t matter that much. It’s possible it won’t matter at all and be a waste of time that ultimately makes getting what you really want more difficult.
Therefore, doing what’s difficult is actually easier than doing what’s easy. This is reframing at its best.