The second law of thermodynamics rules the universe. Results are a reflection of the work; the inputs dictate the output. Before you can experience the fruits of success, you must do the work.

Work begins with an understanding about what you want, why you want it and what is the avenue to get there. Without this knowledge, any effort is just gunning your engine while up on the blocks, wasted energy.

Be honest about your goals and what you are willing to do to get there. If you don’t want to work more than a certain number of hours per week, then be honest with yourself. Where people get in trouble is when they want certain results, but the physics math doesn’t add up. Every time I take on a new project I ask if I am willing to do the work to satisfy the second law of thermodynamics. Sounds magnanimous, I know, but it’s effective.

Physics is a good analogy here because if an output isn’t showing results, then all that needs changing is the input. Work needs to evolve. Goals need to be tweaked. Mindset needs to be updated. If you want to improve your life, you must improve your approach to work.

My buddy and serial entrepreneur Chris Stevenson started out as a stunt man for the show Power Rangers. He performed at the live action shows (he was the red one). Afterwards, he began working as a personal trainer and eventually opened his own gym. That gym was so well received by customers that Chris was invited to speak all over the world. Remember, he was a trained stuntman and gym instructor. Not exactly the skills necessary for public speaking. He quickly had to upgrade his skills. He couldn’t afford to fold his arms. A lot of people in the conference-speaking world relied on him to become a decent speaker. The work was no longer just about him and his personal goals. It was much bigger than that.

Chris said it wasn’t easy to evolve. It took many sessions before he stopped making easy mistakes on stage. There was a lag between when he started working on those new skills and when he finally saw results. But he was thankful for his prior experience in theatre because it gave him a foundation from which he could learn the required skills. And it also helped inform him about what pitfalls might be coming that could be prevented.

In his book Upstream, Dan Heath outlines why prevention is a better strategy than dealing with problems as they occur. It’s virtually impossible to deal with a problem that hasn’t occurred yet. However, thinking through scenarios before they occur takes much less effort and energy than letting unexpected problems pop up out of the blue.

Let’s say a person comes home and throws their keys in a different place each time. When they want to leave the house again, they always spend fifteen long minutes looking for the keys. Are they in the kitchen? On the coffee table? These preventable delays make the person flustered and often throw their whole day off kilter. Then someone informed them of a better way. Every time the opened the door, the keys should go straight into a bowl before even removing their shoes. It’s the first thing to happen. It sounds simple, right? But people live exactly like this, just frantically going through their day without much thought for basic problems.

In medicine, prevention is always better than treatment. Eating healthily and working out regularly prevents plenty diseases and is even good for work energy. In any relationship, it’s better to define boundaries and set expectations before you need to pick up the broken glass. The more prevention you take, the potency of challenges decreases.

But don’t swing the pendulum too far by preparing for every little thing. That strategy only leads to paralysis. A budding writer will never start putting their ideas to paper if they get caught up in a feedback loop thinking about everything that could go wrong. Be aware of potential problems, but don’t dwell on them.