Want Meaningful Success? Here’s How Mastery Makes It Happen

Hard work helps, but smart strategy wins—master both for success.

In the world of passionate craftspeople and deliberate mastery, the allure of ambition often overshadows the necessity of strategy. Far too many people think (and I’ll admit to being one of them in the past): If I just work hard enough—if I pour every ounce of passion into my craft—success will follow.

But as my painful experience suggests (and as Cal Newport warns in So Good They Can't Ignore You and Richard P. Rumelt emphasizes in Good Strategy/Bad Strategy), effort without focus is not enough. To thrive, we need more than passion and practice—we need strategy.

In this post, we'll examine how Rumelt’s insights in Good Strategy/Bad Strategy can guide us to align our passions with mastery, while making deliberate, effective choices in our careers as authors or engineers.

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Expected Takeaways

• Passion without strategy is just effort without direction. Diagnose challenges, set a guiding policy, and take coherent actions to ensure your work moves you forward.

• A good strategy isn’t just about working hard—it’s about working smart. Focus on high-leverage actions that align with your goals and amplify your impact.

• Avoid the traps of bad strategy. Fluff, ambition without focus, and ignoring reality can derail even the most passionate pursuits.

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Diagnosis: Knowing What You're Up Against

A key tenet of Rumelt's kernel of good strategy is the importance of diagnosing the problem. Without a clear understanding of the challenges we face, even the most heartfelt efforts—like frantically writing that book you’re sure is the one that will get you noticed—risk being misdirected.

For those of us pursuing passion-driven mastery, this means asking:

• What are the real obstacles to progress in my craft or career?

• Are there industry norms, market trends, or personal skill gaps holding me back?

• Have I fallen into the trap of mistaking busyness for meaningful progress?

Action Step: Conduct a "self SWOT analysis"—assess your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Use this as a foundation to clarify where you stand currently and then focus your efforts on the most pressing challenges.

Guiding Policy: Crafting a Strategy that Fits

Rumelt's second component of a good strategy is a guiding policy—a clear, overarching approach to addressing the diagnosis. This isn't about setting generic goals like “write more” or “level up my coding skills.”

Those aren’t bad goals if you value only quantity or leaning into the abstract notion of what it means to “level up,” but neither of them move the needle in the direction of creating a framework for action that aligns with your circumstances and values.

For example, an aspiring author whose main challenge is staying consistent and building an audience might develop a policy like the below.

Focus on establishing a disciplined writing routine while sharing excerpts and engaging with readers through a personal blog.

This version of “write more” not only gives direction but also ensures that one’s creative and promotional efforts work in tandem.

Similarly, an early-to-mid-career software engineer looking to stand out in a competitive field might lay out the following guiding policy.

Specialize in a high-demand area like cloud infrastructure or artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) and contribute to open-source projects that showcase my expertise.

Bam! This framework focuses their energy on building both depth and visibility in their field.

Action Step: Write your guiding policy in one sentence. Let it act as your compass, ensuring every choice you make contributes to a coherent long-term vision.

Coherent Actions: Aligning Effort with Purpose

The third component of a good strategy—coherent actions—ensures that your efforts align with the guiding policy and build toward your goal. These are the tangible steps you'll take—not in isolation, but as part of a cohesive plan.

For the author whose guiding policy is to establish a disciplined writing routine while engaging with readers through a personal blog, coherent actions could include:

• Set a daily writing target (e.g., 500 words or one hour of focused work).

• Schedule weekly blog posts, using them to share insights, character sketches, or reflections on the writing process.

• Engage with online writing communities by offering thoughtful critiques or participating in discussions to build connections and grow visibility.

For the software engineer aiming to specialize in cloud infrastructure or AI/ML and contribute to open-source projects, coherent actions might include:

• Take advanced courses or earn certifications in AWS or TensorFlow to deepen expertise in the chosen specialty.

• Dedicate a portion of your weekly schedule to contribute to open-source projects related to cloud or AI, showcasing one's skills to a broader audience.

• Present your work by writing technical blog posts or giving talks at meetups, demonstrating thought leadership in your area.

Notice how each action directly supports the guiding policy? They're not just a random collection of tasks—they work together to build momentum and reinforce progress. This is called leverage, and the more you can generate, the better.

Action Step: List three to five specific, repeatable actions that align with your guiding policy. Ensure they fit together like puzzle pieces to form a unified strategy.

Bad Strategy: Avoiding the Passion Pitfalls

While Rumelt outlines what makes a good strategy, he also, thankfully, highlights the dangers of bad strategy. Many of these pitfalls are similar to the passion hypothesis traps Newport critiques, some of which I detail in the Passionate Craftsman series:

• Fluff: Mistaking inspirational slogans (“Do what you love!”) for actionable strategy.

• Ambition Without Focus: Trying to do too much, too soon, with too little direction.

• Failure to Face Reality: Ignoring obstacles or skill gaps in favor of wishful thinking.

Action Step: Take a hard look at your current goals. Are they grounded in actionable plans, or are they lofty but vague aspirations (e.g. get a literary agent, or land a job at one of the MAANG companies)?

If it reads in the vein of either of the examples above, reframe your goals using Rumelt's kernel.

Strategic Passion: Bridging the Gap Between Passion and Mastery

The craftsman mindset emphasizes deliberate practice, but even if you embrace that mindset, that on its own isn’t enough; it's like sailing without a map. Rumelt's strategy framework helps us direct our energy effectively, ensuring we don't just work hard but work smart.

By diagnosing challenges, creating a guiding policy, and executing coherent actions, you can forge a path that not only aligns with your passions but also maximizes the likelihood of sustainable success.

And as someone who knows a thing or two about unsustainable success, I really hope you take the importance of sustainability to heart.

To sum it all up, then, mastery isn't an accident—it's the result of consistent, strategic effort.

So let's not chase our dreams blindly. Let's build them—deliberately, strategically, and with an unwavering focus on what matters most.

Tell Me in the Comments

• What’s one passion-driven goal you’ve pursued that could have benefited from a clearer strategy?

• Have you ever mistaken busy-ness for meaningful progress? What helped you shift your approach?