It’s natural to look for easy ways to reach our goals. This is sensible, and reduces wasted effort. Taking the elevator rather than the stairs to the 20th floor is an efficient choice.

To make a difference, change things, or win in an open competition, you’ll need to do the opposite. You’ll need to look for something difficult to do.

Solve the difficult engineering problem, knock on 500 doors, train harder, risk failure, persevere long enough to make it. The advantage is in the difficulty.

P.S. I talk about lean business startups and early market validation on this new video interview.