If You Do Everything, You’ll Win
Lyndon Johnson had a saying. “If you do everything, you’ll win.” A phrase that upon further investigation — like a look at the 1948 Senate race that he probably stole — would confirm a ruthless ambition for maneuvering toward any and every goal in his path. Though his tactics aren’t honorable, his results and effort aren’t unique among other ambitious people.
Kobe Bryant was known for his unmatched work ethic. Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk is basically always working. Anyone else in any given field that’s met the heights of success has likely done so with a drive, pace, and stamina that’s unmatched by those chasing after them.
It isn’t the case that work alone will get us where we want to be, but it does give us our best shot. So I ask myself these questions often. Did I actually do all that I could? Am I actually working hard enough? Am I just being chatty on blog posts? Am I motivating myself with inner dialogue and actually have results that don’t match the effort I think I’m putting in in my head?
It’s hard to assess yourself compared to your potential — as indefinable as that word is — but there’s plenty of examples across industries of those who put the pedal to the metal.
Knowing the material “backward and forward”
Another Senator outlined in Robert A. Caro’s jewel, Master of the Senate, which covers Lyndon Johnson’s rise through the United States Senate and provides a rundown for how the institution works — especially during it’s greatest periods — tells us of Richard Russell, a Governor and Senator from Georgia who was known among his peers for his extensive knowledge and attention to details.
The Senate had twenty-two formal rules. And Russell? He memorized all of them. Every single word. Then he learned the governing of the Senate had more to do with precedents. So he studied the 1,326 page book of them. Caro writes that Russell knew the book “backward and forward.”
Russell would sit with the Parliamentarian of the Senate and chat for hours about those precedents to learn how they started, the reasons behind them, and how they could be used or worked around. When senators came looking for Russell because of his expertise, they realized he also knew all the legislative bills they were trying to pass. Russell was reading the newspapers from their states, seeing why legislation was proposed, and he knew the best way to get the bills passed. Russell even had comments about bills from which he hadn’t been a part of the committees aiming to pass them. He had to have been reading the transcripts from those committee hearings. According to Caro, “A legend began to arise that Richard Russell read the entire Congressional Record every day.”
This doesn’t include the reading that Russell did prior to the Senate. Or the reading he did during the Senate, like a third reading of Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. All of this reading also doesn’t include the effort that Russell showed when he campaigned for the Senate without cancelling a single speech after he had been thrown through the windshield of a car, having to tie down his lip with tape.
And what of Robert Caro? This author of The Years of Lyndon Johnson series who is known for his exhaustive work, having written four of five volumes on Johnson, with respective books of upwards of 800 pages (The Path to Power) and 1,000 pages (Master of the Senate). His first book, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, also tallies in at over 1,000 pages.
Like Johnson said, “If you do everything, you’ll win.”
So, did I really give it everything? Was it even close?
When I look at myself, have I really given my best effort? Am I paying attention to all the details in my work that I need to be paying attention to? Am I making excuses for not working harder because I don’t want to push myself or I fear the dreaded “burnout” phrase that’s thrown around online? Can I be as meticulous as Kobe Bryant was when he read the entire NBA rulebook when it comes to my work?
I’m not sure. I can’t see myself from outside of myself, and sometimes others don’t give true feedback for the concern of the feelings involved with the truth. As George Santayana said, “The truth is cruel, but it can be loved, and it makes free those who have loved it.” But I’d admit, I don’t think I work hard enough.
Nonetheless, these are the things I consider as I watch those around me put in tremendous amounts of effort. As I see those who lead our countries and communities put in long hours to attain their goals — often goals that don’t align with the needs of the greater populace — I realize, if I hope to help shape the world around me, I have to have the knowledge, attention to detail, and effort that they do. If I oppose ideas, I have to have done my homework so thoroughly that like Russell about precedents, I know my material “backward and forward.” Am I working hard enough to be of use in these types of battles? Or am I falling short because of a lack of effort?
I hope the snippets of inspiration I get from those who work hard is enough of a reminder to carry me through my days. I hope this inspiration helps me remain thorough, that it reminds me that if I, too, do everything, I can win.
