Lenin said, “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”
The key question then becomes how do you decide the weeks when decades happen. How might you pick the 20% of working hours when 80% of action happens. Hard work may not lead to success, but there is something beyond the quantum of work that creates exponential results.
As Lightspeed Partner Bent says, it all comes down to making contrarian bets.