Most people dream of being extraordinary. They want an extraordinary lifestyle, bank account, relationships, and they want it all in an extraordinarily speedy way – as in, cutting corners. But some of us are willing to work for extraordinary. We aren’t happy to sit back and hope for the chance to be great. To people like us, work isn’t a dirty word. It’s a path that requires getting your hands dirty. There’s a big difference.

The roots of becoming extraordinary are in that word “becoming.” No one is born extraordinary. Everyone is unique, but “unique” is not extraordinary. Extraordinary is the long, arduous road of performing work over and over until the person becomes extraordinary. A writer must write consistently to even approach anything like mastery. Writing also require broad and engaged habits of reading, editing skills and many, many re-writes until the draft is complete. A pianist must practice scales over and over until they can do them in their dreams. They must learn to read notation as if it were a language and they need someone nearby who can correct any mistakes in their practice before it’s too late. Extraordinary results start with ordinary efforts until one day a person says “wow, you’re so good at this” and your mind says in response, “but this is easy for me.” That’s when you know you’ve made it.

In an earlier article, I introduced the idea that work should be thought about like stock investing. Some investments pay off while some go south. In baseball, even the best hitters fail 60% of the time. Work is about having the right expectations, which demands a decent analysis of the chances of success. Putting more time and energy into an activity or enterprise that is never going to flourish can be hugely demoralizing. The point of having better habits and a better strategy for work is to understand where the best investments should be made, both for your time and resources.

Extraordinary can’t be purchased off Amazon. It doesn’t magically arrive in the mail. Becoming truly amazing is a process of chipping away at a goal and never, ever procrastinating (maybe a few excuses are ok, but no more than that!).

If you want to write a book, start a company or finish a degree, but you end up bogged down by life’s obligations, start chipping away at your goals. Rome wasn’t built in a day, remember. It can be overwhelming to think about all the little inputs to accomplish a goal. Even half an hour a week spent on pushing towards a goal is better than zero minutes. Commit to reading one chapter of a relevant book a night or watch one video a week about whatever field you’re operating within. If you want to write a book, spend fifteen minutes a week writing 2000 words. You can write in the parking lot while waiting to pick up the kids or jot down some notes while pounding out the steps on a treadmill. You can write anywhere. Chip, chipping away.

The biggest enemy for the chipping away approach is your brain. It will want to see results now and will get easily deflated when progress isn’t obvious. The brain isn’t necessarily trying to sabotage your efforts. It just wants to be as efficient as possible. It wants to take the straightest line to any goal and hopefully cut out any unnecessary work in the meantime. So, you should listen to your brain occasionally. It might be flagging that you could be doing things more efficiently.

But the brain isn’t always a source of good advice. That’s because the brain really, really doesn’t like change. Even if your rational mind doesn’t feel comfortable in a current situation, the brain will assume all change to be an attack. To your brain, change could represent a lion suddenly jumping out of the grass to eat you for lunch. Your brain doesn’t know the difference between types of change. It only registers change=bad. It wants to keep you safe by avoiding change. The brain is not designed for success. It’s designed for protection. This is why the brain so easily invents excuses that dissuade you from chipping away at a project.

Just as re-investing dividends boosts the total value of a portfolio, chipping away at a goal creates positive momentum. No matter how small the progress is, you should always want to be working towards something.

If you are going through a rough patch where motivation is a scarce resource, then instead of picking fights, nagging or creating issues out of thin air, go out to dinner, joke around or send texts to people you love with lots of emojis. Getting out of a rut depends on creating positive momentum. If you are in a struggling business, call up some loyal customers, ask how they’re doing and if they need more help. As they say, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. And all you need is a few small wins to get back on track. Start chipping away at your goals and you’ll be one step closer to extraordinary.