There was a saying in medieval alchemy, in sterquiliniis invenitur, that roughly translates to “in filth it will be found.”

Carl Jung later expounded on this, explaining that what we most want to find in our lives will be found in the places where we least want to look.

How true this is in fitness.

Only in the “filth” of energy balance, macronutrient balance, progressive overload, patience, and consistency—unsexy, unpalatable subjects that many want to avoid—will you discover the “fitness secrets of the super-fit.”

So it is with most everything in life. Only in the filth of all the things that are difficult, complicated, uncomfortable, unexciting, and exhausting are the true gems found. Often, this is nothing grander than detail—the small, exacting, easily skipped work that others overlook or can’t be bothered to do.

George Lucas understood this. In The Star Wars Archives, he described how an obsession with the smallest details let him create not just a movie to watch but an alternate reality to enter:

One thing I learned from Kurosawa is to try and instill an immaculate reality, an attention to detail that makes it real. Whether you’ve got dust or a rattling thing on the side of the ship, that adds another little element to it that keeps it looking real. What that does is say, “You believe where you are, no matter where you are.” I think I accomplished that. People think our places are real. There’s never a sense of, “Oh, I’m watching a science fiction movie.”

And that’s why Lucas carefully created every object in every frame of his iconic movies—every character, creature, costume, fork, napkin, tray, fixture, gun, chair, gadget . . . everything.

This is one of the simple secrets to greatness:

Pouring more of yourself into it than everyone else. Scrutinizing every feature. Attending to every detail. Polishing every inch. There are no weird tricks, no hacks, no shortcuts. There’s only the work.

This is why Steve Jobs made sure even the inside of his products were beautifully designed even though his customers would never see them.

This is why Napoleon pored over maps to meticulously plan his campaigns down to the smallest topographical elements.

This is why Michelangelo said that you must take “infinite pains” if you are “to make something that looks effortless.”

Sometimes there just isn’t an easier way to get what you want. Sometimes you just have to struggle. Sometimes it just takes what it takes.