The Common Denominator
When he became a supervisor responsible for leading a number of men and women striving to be successful, a man named Albert Gray wanted to be able to better direct their efforts. So he set out to discover, is there a common denominator of success? He read biographies and autobiographies, dissertations and research studies. He interviewed successful people in various fields. He reflected on what had helped him progress throughout his career. The pattern that emerged, Gray said, was this: “the common denominator of success—the secret of success of everyone who has ever been successful—lies in the fact that they formed the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.” What are the things that failures don’t like to do? “The very things that you and I and other human beings, including successful men and women, naturally don’t like to do.” Maybe you’ve wondered, Gray continues, why those who are exceptional at what they do seem to like to do things most people don’t like to do. “They don’t!” he says. “Then why do they do them? Because by doing the things they don’t like to do, they can accomplish the things they want to accomplish.”
People doing things that you and I and other human beings and they themselves don’t necessarily like to do—that’s the theme of this SIX at 6…
Trick Yourself Into Doing What You Want To Have Done
Brandon Sanderson has written more than 70 books. Asked if he’s so prolific simply because he loves writing, Sanderson said no. “I enjoy writing,” he said, “but it is still work. Playing a video game, playing with my magic cards, doing things with my wife and kids—these things bring me much more pure joy in the moment than working on a book.” His favorite part of his job, he said, “is writing the end of a book and then letting people read it. The experience of knowing people now get to read this thing that I’ve created—that’s the best part.” But to get there, “I need to spend between 6 and 18 months working in order to have this thing that I can show to people.” Which is between 6 and 18 months spent getting himself to do things he doesn’t necessarily want to do. “I kind of trick myself into doing what I want to have done,” he said. One of his tricks, for example, is tracking his word count on a spreadsheet, where watching the numbers count up gives him nearly as much satisfaction as watching a progress bar inch toward the next level in his favorite video games. On his website, he even has progress bars counting toward the completion of a book—the thing he loves to have done. He says it’s something he often tells his students in the creative writing class he teaches at Brigham Young University: “Success involves making yourself do the things you want to have done. Learn to hack your brain, tricking yourself into doing what you want to have.”
“Turn Every Page”
In 1959, the future two-time Pulitzer Prize winning biographer Robert Caro went to work for the Long Island newspaper Newsday. After spending his first months doing lowly grunt work for the senior writers and reporters, Caro got called in to see Newsday’s managing editor, Alan Hathway. Impressed with a memo Caro had put together after combing through thousands of pages about an organization a senior reporter was writing about, Hathway told Caro, “From now on, you do investigative work.” “But,” Caro replied, “I don’t know anything about investigative reporting.” It’s simple, Hathway told him: “Turn every page. Never assume anything. Turn every goddamned page.” Caro has become legendary for doing exactly that—reading every page of every book, article, memo, letter, diary, and document connected to the figures he writes about. As Sam Hinkie—the NBA executive turned venture capitalist, who is a huge Caro fan—put it, Caro is “a one-in-a-billion researcher.” He has formed the habit of doing what most don’t like to do—himself included. “There are times,” Caro admitted, “like when you’re down at the Lyndon Johnson Library [Caro’s been working on a multivolume biography of Johnson since 1974], and you call for the files on something and they bring you out 8 million pieces of paper that you’re going to go through. And you say, ‘Oh, I’m going to skip this box.’ And then I suddenly hear Alan’s voice—Turn every page. And I can’t tell you how many times by doing that I found stuff that helped my work, helped me understand Lyndon Johnson,” helped him accomplish the things he wanted to accomplish.
I Just Need You From The Neck-Down
When Matt McCusker was coming up as a comedian, he worked a number of manual labor jobs. In one of those jobs, he was told, “Look, I just need you from the neck-down today. I don’t want to hear any ideas. I don’t want to hear some other way you think we should try.” Pointing from one spot to another, the boss added, “Just lift the box there and put it over there. There to there—that’s it.” I think about this all the time. With things I don’t necessarily love doing—in the past, I’d procrastinate by thinking, “Do I really want to do this? Does it make me happy?” Now, I say to myself, “Look, I just need you from the neck-down right now.” And usually, once whatever it is gets done, I’m happy to have done it.
People Don’t Know How Ordinary Success Is
When Mary T. Meagher was 13 years old, after she clarified her goal of one day breaking the 200 Meter Butterfly world record, she started doing two things she didn’t necessarily want to do. First, she decided she would never again arrive late to a practice. Second, she decided that during every practice, she would make every turn as if it were an Olympic race. Where most swimmers allow themselves to swim more casually in practice than in competition, Meagher didn’t. This, she said, habituated her to being a little bit better than those around her. On any given day, these two changes would have little to no noticeable impact. We can imagine there were days where Meagher felt the frustration of putting in work that doesn’t immediately pay off. But over time, being a little bit better day after day, the impact becomes glaring. In 1981, at the age of 17, Meagher had one of the great performances in competitive swimming history: at the U.S. Swimming National Championships, she set world records in both the 100- and 200-Meter butterfly. At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, still just 19, she took gold in both the 100m and 200m butterfly. She also swam the butterfly leg of the women’s 4x100m medley, earning a third gold medal. In addition to her three Olympic golds, Meagher won two gold medals at the World Championships (and nine World Championship medals in total) and was crowned U.S. champion 24 times. She is widely regarded as the greatest female butterfly specialist of all time, affectionately nicknamed, “Madame Butterfly.” After her extraordinary career, Meagher was asked what the public least understands about what it takes to achieve greatness. “People don’t know how ordinary success is,” she replied.
“They Think We Have Some Big Secret”
After telling Meagher’s story in his paper, The Mundanity of Excellence, the sociologist Daniel Chambliss tells another story about a group of coaches from around the world visiting a U.S. Olympic Team practice. “The visiting coaches were excited at first…then soon they grew bored, walking back and forth, glancing down at their watches, wondering, after the long flight out to California, when something dramatic was going to happen.” “They all have to come to see what we do,” the U.S. Olympic Team coach said. “They think we have some big secret.” The secret—the common denominator of everyone who has ever been successful—is doing the mundane, boring, under-appreciated, overlooked work no one necessarily likes to do, day after day.