How to become great at something (2024)

I went to the cinema a few weeks ago to see Dune: Part Two. And it got me thinking.

No, I wasn’t thinking about becoming one of the Bene Gesserit and trying to become the ruler of a desert planet. Rather, my thoughts turned to the author of the Dune series of books - Frank Herbert.

(For some reason I often confuse him with the horror author James Herbert. His books are also excellent, but very different!)

I had similar thoughts when I went to see The Lord of The Rings and when I watched the Harry Potter films. It’s the reason I have a One Ring™️ which I sometimes wear on my thumb. To remind me.

Remind me of what? Of the fact that these amazing franchises, which are made up of books, films, oodles of merchandise and a legion of loyal fans, were all created by one person. And one person who we can agree did something out of the ordinary.

Did they realise what was going to happen when they set out to write their multi-book series? I doubt it very much. In fact, I doubt they had much in mind at all, other than they had a story - or a series of stories - burning a hole in their minds, screaming to be let out.

And yet, they did all create something which has entertained and fed peoples’ imaginations for decades. In Frank Herbert’s case, the first Dune book was written in 1965. That’s almost sixty years ago!

So, if they didn’t intend to achieve such things, how did they do it, exactly?

I know what we’re all like. We see people becoming popular in the creative field of their choice, whether it’s acting, dancing, becoming an influencer like Mrs. Hinch (love her, even though we have very little in common!) or having a book climb to the top of The New York Times bestseller’s list, and we assume that they’ve got some special sauce, some magic trick that’s allowed them to burst onto the scene with near instantaneous success.

I’m sorry, but I’m about to burst that illusion. Although there are a few very rare exceptions, the vast majority of people you hear about, or those you meet, who’re living the life of their dreams, have put in years of effort in order to get there.

Take this Grammy acceptance speech by Victoria Monét:

“This award was a 15-year pursuit. I moved to LA in 2009, and I like to liken myself to a plant, who was planted, and you can look at the music industry as soil, and it can be looked at as dirty, or it can be looked at as a source of nutrients and water. And my roots have been growing underneath ground, unseen for so long…”

If you look at her Wikipedia page, specifically the career session, you can see the plethora of artists she’s worked with. She’s written songs for a huge range of artists, and she worked on her songwriting in tandem with her own singing career, for a long time.

J. R. R. Tolkien took 12 years to write The Lord of the Rings. J. K. Rowling took 17 years to write all of the Harry Potter books. The first Dune book took Frank Herbert 6 years.

You see, real-life greatness isn’t like we see in all of the superhero films. There’s no real-life Tony Stark, I’m very sorry to say! 🤤

True greatness is built in tiny baby steps into the darkness of the unknown, one day, one action, one word and one keystroke at a time.

Does that depress you? I could understand it if you felt a bit deflated right now. After all, we live in a society which is chock-full of instant gratification, don’t we? If want a tiny dopamine hit, we have apps pinging on our phones, notifications as messages arrive, and any number of free games we can play, on whatever device we wish, to satisfy us. There’s also films and TV, and in the latter, that’s where the insidious idea that our lives can be totally transformed in a moment is reinforced.

Short of a lottery win, or some kind of accident - which is something none of us want to have - that’s just not the truth.

We can’t all be famous, but we can all be great. Because greatness is determined by service. – Martin Luther King Jr.

But, take heart. Because we all have the same number of minutes in a day. I know people say we have the same time as Beyoncé, but that’s not quite true, considering how much money she has at her disposal these days, whereas we still need to wash our own dirty dishes and do our own laundry.

You might be thinking ‘god, I can’t wait YEARS to get <insert the thing you’re working on here>, I want it now’.

Well, unless you’re a magician (or a millionaire), you’re going to have to just put in the work. As Malcolm Gladwell suggests in his book Outliers, some skills require 10,000 hours to master. Tim Ferriss is a bit more forgiving. In his book The Four Hour Work Week, he offers advice for achieving your goals by expending minimal effort, and many people are fans of The Pareto Principle, including one of my favourite folks in the self-help space, Leonie Dawson.

So, it’s not all doom and gloom. But it’s still going to take you some time to get to where you want to be.

But think of it like this - that time will pass anyway, whether you’re taking those small steps or not. Six months, a year, 5 years, 10 years, 10,000 hours will pass.

And if you start today, then there’ll come a day when you look back and you’re astonished by just how far you’ve come. One baby step at a time.

So, that’s my challenge to you today. What baby steps can you take in the direction of the life of your dreams?

And if you struggle to get started with challenging things (who doesn’t?! That’s why I’m here in the first place!), here are some of my articles with tricks and tips which could help:

• One easy and fun way to get yourself to do hard things when you don’t want to

• Build a soundtrack for your life

• Be a good friend today to the you of tomorrow

• Eat that frog!

• An easy tactic to get yourself to do the things you’re resisting

• Take the next best action

• If this, then that

• Hand reminders

• Does it serve me? and What if I can?

• What CAN I do?

• One thing at a time