In today's society, social norms dictate that hard work and perseverance will lead ultimately to success. Is this necessarily the best way to go about things? Not in my book. The fallacy that hard work solves problems is based on a half-truth: hard work does do wonderful things, but only if applied tactically and strategically. With that in mind, here are three ways you can “try softer” in your life and increase your performance, whether in business or in life.

1. Get tactical

As I stated above, hard work without strategy is counterproductive. Coaches don't assign playing time merely based on how hard their athletes are working. If they did, they would be out of a job! Why? Because hard work without direction produces results, but not necessarily the results that lead you or your company where you want to go. Therefore, before hard work is applied to the situation at hand, you must set a tactical (strategic) course. To do this, work backwards: What is the ultimate outcome or product you are looking to produce or obtain? Working from this point backwards, what are the subsequent and specific steps (tasks) that lead to this product? By focusing on the strategic process of implementing these steps, you allow for complete success, provided you define the tasks appropriately and follow through. For example, if your goal is to become a professional basketball player, you must first develop the skills to play at the collegiate level (consistency (35-40%) with your jump shot from the three point line in, good defensive skills, ability to juggle academics and athletics (2.5 GPA), etc). You will not get drafted if you cannot consistently hit open shots, just as you will not get drafted if you cannot stay academically eligible. If you continue working backwards in this fashion, you will arrive at whatever step you find yourself currently (perhaps you are a high school sophomore).

2. Be a copy cat

Don't try to reinvent the wheel! People have gone before you and accomplished that which you seek to accomplish. Learn from their mistakes, and their gains. Imitate them, minus the mistakes. In this fashion, you can improve upon the model they set for you. Thus, if you are a small consulting business, find someone who has become successful in your field. Buy their books, hire them as a mentor, contact them for questions, hire them as a consultant. Get the details on exactly how they came up with their business plan, their marketing plan. Did they hire employees, or did they instead focus on marketing and building their client base first? Find out what they did that increased client satisfaction. Get the point? There is absolutely nothing wrong with imitating those that are successful. It is the quickest manner in which you can duplicate success.

3. Focus on sustained long-term improvements (rather than large, short term ones)

By focusing on the long-term perspective of whatever area you are working to improve in, you allow yourself to set appropriate goals, and measure success appropriately. If you fail to do this, what you will find is that you become quickly discouraged. This explains why most small businesses go out of business within three years of inception. They fail to gain a long-term perspective, which results in poor process and strategy. However, those businesses that do succeed do so through consistent and sustainable gains. They focus on increasing the breadth and depth of the services they can offer not only future clients, but existing ones, when the existing clients are the reason for their business existence! What are some ways in which your business can improve, even slightly? Can you do a slightly better job with regards to customer satisfaction scores? Can you improve delivery times a bit? If you are an athlete, can you get a bit faster than last season? Can you improve your quickness? Can you push your free-throw percentage from 75 % to 80% (that's only five more made free throws out of one hundred!) These small but sustainable gains a key purpose: They perpetuate future success through increased confidence (based on quantitative success-it can be measured) in your company or individual abilities. If you can increase sales by 5% this quarter, improving them by 6% next quarter is very reasonable. Success breeds success, and confidence, through making smaller but more sustainable gains.