🏆 Outwork to Win
🐍 3 Questions to Start 2026
🚪 Two-Way Door Decisions
🏆 Outwork to Win
There is a surefire way to beat the competition and achieve your goals in 2026: outwork everyone.
It’s not a fancy or creative strategy, but I guarantee it will work.
Dr. Bob Rotella writes in How Champions Think, “Going after big ideas takes sweat. It takes persistence, patience, and a bedrock belief in yourself. Not everyone will do it. That’s why we call it trying to be exceptional.”
The key message is “Not everyone will do it.” Rotella argues that exceptionalism is rare, not because of talent or opportunity, but lack of perseverance.
What separates Champions from everyone else is they outwork everyone. Rotella explains, “For most endeavors, there’s a high correlation between the work that goes in and the results that come out.”
The definition of hard work varies widely, and using your peers and colleagues as a guide of effort can be a poor comparison.
Rotella compares the cultural differences of American and Korean golfers. He writes, “An American kid who wants to be great at golf and practices three hours a day is likely to be lauded by all who know him as a very hard worker… In Korea, a competitive golfer who practiced three hours a day would likely be considered a slacker.”
In many companies and organizations, the definition of hard work looks a lot like going for the bronze.
When the competition is satisfied with average, the people and companies that show up and outwork everyone win.
🐍 3 Questions to Start 2026
One of my favorite excercises from Sticky Branding (the book) is “Shedding the Skin.” It’s a powerful way to start the year.
With your leadership team, work through these questions:
- Where are we today? Where do we need to move towards?
- What is working? What is not working?
- Who is part of the team moving forward? Who has stopped growing and cannot keep up?
Start 2026 with intention. What is the strategy and change you are leading? When you’re clear on where you’re going and why, you can put all your efforts into getting there.
You will find the exercise in Principle 12 of Sticky Branding: Big Goals and Bold Actions. Listen to the book on Audible.
One Stat to Watch
23%
Highly engaged teams are 23% more profitable than their disengaged counterparts, according to Gallup’s 11th Q12 Meta-Analysis.
🚪 Two-Way Door Decisions
It’s ok to reverse course and change decisions. Jeff Bezos describes these as Two-Way Door Decisions.
He argues that most decisions are changeable or reversible, like two-way doors. He explains, “If you’ve made a sub-optimal decision, you don’t have to live with the consequences for that long. You can reopen the door and go back through.”
Changing a decision is not a mistake. It’s smart leadership.
So much of strategy is making decisions with the best information and knowledge you have at that moment. But as you move forward and gain knowledge, data, and expertise you can adapt and adjust your decisions.
An inability to rapidly reverse decisions can stunt your growth. Bezos says, “The end result of this is slowness, unthoughtful risk aversion, failure to experiment sufficiently, and consequently diminished invention.”
🤔 Thoughts on Today’s Issue?
We’d love to hear your feedback. Message with any thoughts, comments, or ideas for future issues.