There are no shortcuts to success: how to embrace the hard way
Jerry Seinfeld would be a great startup entrepreneur.
Yes, you heard me.
Jerry 100% has what it takes.
This is one of my favorite quotes from Jerry Seinfeld. It’s a short interaction from an interview he did a few years ago with HBR that proves my point.
HBR: You and Larry David wrote Seinfeld together, without a traditional writers’ room, and burnout was one reason you stopped. Was there a more sustainable way to do it? Could McKinsey or someone have helped you find a better model?
Seinfeld: Who’s McKinsey?
HBR: It’s a consulting firm.
Seinfeld: Are they funny?
HBR: No.
Seinfeld: Then I don’t need them. If you’re efficient, you’re doing it the wrong way. The right way is the hard way. The show was successful because I micromanaged it—every word, every line, every take, every edit, every casting. That’s my way of life.
My favorite line:
“The right way is the hard way”
I wish there was a secret “3 tips to startup success” (or any kind of success) that we could all follow, but it really ain’t that simple, is it?
It’s a bit like this image (which is one of my favorites):
As much as we’d like this to be a linear ‘up and to the right’ pathway, a more realistic experience is that we’re going to encounter speed bumps and “impossible” obstacles along the way.
So let’s talk about 2 ways to “embrace the hard way”:
1. Reframe your perspective
Why does this help? Well, whenever you hit a brick wall, I think it’s helpful to have some internal monologues that help you crush the critic. Here are some of mine:
If it was easy, someone else would be doing it
I volunteered for this
There are no shortcuts to success
Embrace the suck
Some people would kill for my bad days
I’m sure there are others, but these are some that I have ‘on loop’ throughout the day.
I’d love to hear some of yours.
2. Just keep swimming
Even though Finding Nemo is set in Australia, let’s not hold it against them.
Dory has something to say and it’s giving wisdom:
Sometimes all we need to do is just keep going.
Just take that one more step.
Just show up one more day.
Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months and then all of a sudden ‘hey presto!’ you’re known as someone with grit & perseverance.
But if you’re not a Pixar fan, don’t take Dory’s word for it. Here’s what Winston Churchill has to say on the matter:
“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
The hard way is the right way.
Maybe you needed to hear that this week, or maybe you need to share that with someone else who's in the thick of it.
Either way, just keep swimming.
MT