There are a handful of ideas I’ve come back to over the years. None of them are particularly novel, but they’ve quietly shaped how I approach work and life.

The first is simple, and easy to ignore: take full responsibility for everything in your life. Nothing changes until you own the outcome; not just the parts that went well.

Most people don’t fail because they lack motivation. They fail because intensity feels productive while consistency actually is. A two-week sprint rarely beats showing up every day for two years. Focus on one thing at a time. Give 100% to one goal instead of 20% to five. Make gradual improvements — you can’t jump to level 10 with level 1 habits. Read one page. Write one paragraph. Meet the deadlines you set. Find someone who will hold you to them.

You also don’t need to be the best in the world at one skill. You need a rare combination of a few. Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, explained this well:

In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I’m hardly an artist. And I’m not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I’m funnier than most people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It’s the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it.

The goal isn’t to be top 1% at everything. It’s to be in the top 25% at two or three things that matter — and stack them together into something hard to copy. Genius, in that sense, isn’t about extraordinary intelligence. It’s about being extremely good at a couple of things that really matter, and not being afraid to do work that feels out of reach. The idea of “intelligence” gets in the way. However smart you are, someone else is smarter. You don’t need to win that comparison.

Purpose helps tie it together. It’s hard to live a fulfilled life without direction or a clear plan. Once you know what you’re working towards, everything else becomes a little clearer.

Most of these ideas are simple. The hard part is living them consistently.