People try many things in life that just don’t work, things related to career, health or life in general. They may be doing everything right and listening to advice and counsel, but not getting results.

But others, with seemingly ordinary gifts, have become extraordinarily successful. The difference? The secret lies in determining where your strengths lie, then focusing those strengths on your objectives. At some point you must try something different to get the results you want.

Good news: You don’t have to be “brilliant” to be successful.

Ron Wanek grew up poor on a dairy farm in my home state of Minnesota, where his grandfather and great uncle built furniture as a hobby. Ron never made it to college, but he worked his way up in the furniture business, starting Arcadia Furniture in 1970 with a loan from his father. He networked and studied marketing strategies and manufacturing methods. Six years later, he bought Ashley Furniture and turned it into the world’s largest furniture retailer.

I love to study how successful people like Ron Wanek made it big. Their stories are case studies in soul searching, risk taking and pursuing their passions.

During a tour of Universal Studios at age 17, Steven Spielberg snuck into the filming of a live movie, and was hooked. Then he was rejected by the University of Southern California film school. But that didn’t stop him from making his dream a reality. He took every job he could to learn the film business and went on to direct some of the most commercially and critically successful films in history.

Cami Tellez dropped out of Columbia University to found Parade, a direct-to-consumer undergarments company. She says everyone has an underwear story, and hers was formed by the disconnect between Gen Z’s values of diversity and self-expression with the glitzy Victoria’s Secret brand. Parade celebrates all body types and has sold more than three million pairs of underwear and is currently valued at $140 million.

Many company ideas start with a problem, and in the case of Warby Parker it was that eyeglasses are too expensive. The four founders -- Neil Blumenthal, Dave Gilboa, Andy Hunt and Jeff Raider -- were students when Blumenthal lost his glasses on a backpacking trip. The cost to replace them was so high that he spent the first semester of grad school without them.

The quartet started the online company in 2010 to sell prescription glasses at an affordable price after graduating with their MBA degrees. The company reached its first-year sales target in just three weeks, which is why GQ magazine called Warby Parker “the Netflix of eyewear.”

One thing I’ve noticed is that many people must try different things to be successful. For example, Martha Stewart was a full-time model until she became a mom at age 25 and modeling jobs dried up. She tried her luck as a Wall Street stockbroker for five years, but then turned to her love of gourmet cooking, sewing and home decorating, skills she learned from her mother. Her billion-dollar company sets the standard for every facet of gracious living.

Jonah Peretti taught computer science at a middle school before he co-founded The Huffington Post along with Kenneth Lerer, Andrew Breitbart and Adrianna Huffington in 2005. Just one year later he founded BuzzFeed, the breaking news website.

Vera Wang was a figure skater and then a journalist, working 17 years as an editor at Vogue before entering the fashion industry and becoming an independent bridalwear designer at age 40. Today she is one of the world’s premier women’s designers. She has also designed many costumes for Olympic figure skaters.

These folks didn’t start with a foot in the door. But they just kept opening doors until they found what they were looking for. So can you.

Mackay’s Moral: Don’t be afraid to try different things.

Clifford finally decided to go to a psychiatrist to see if he could get help with his decision-making problem.

“I understand you have trouble making decisions. Is that true?” the psychiatrist asked him.

Clifford looked at the psychiatrist, somewhat puzzled for a moment, and replied, “Well, yes -- and no!”

Unfortunately, many people are like Clifford, a businessman whose problem-solving decisions were keeping him from advancing in the company.

When faced with a difficult decision in almost any endeavor in life, one of the worst things you can do is to procrastinate.

Procrastination is a thief. It robs you of the one commodity that you just can’t buy back: time. It throws off schedules. It replaces accomplishment with inaction. It turns dreams into nightmares. December is Procrastination Awareness Month.

When faced with a task that you just don't want to do, many of us simply put it off until tomorrow. That’s why tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week. And one of these days becomes none of these days.

Putting off an unpleasant task until tomorrow simply gives you more time for your imagination to make a mountain out of a possible molehill ... more time for anxiety to sap your self-confidence.

Most of us can relate to occasional bouts of procrastination -- the phone call you have been dreading to place, the project that you just can’t get excited about, the meeting that you should have scheduled two weeks ago. So why can’t we just get in gear?

To address procrastination at work, it's important to identify the underlying causes and implement strategies that can help you stay focused and productive. Here are some effective techniques to avoid procrastination:

Prioritize tasks. Not all tasks are created equally. Prioritizing helps you focus on what truly matters. Use a priority matrix to categorize tasks by urgency and importance and tackle high-priority tasks first.

Tackle your fear of failure. Too often, we put off projects because we are afraid to fail. You can’t succeed if you don’t try, and the longer you put off trying, the more daunting the task looks. Don’t sabotage your chances.

Break tasks into smaller steps. Large tasks can feel overwhelming, leading to procrastination. Breaking them down into manageable steps makes them more approachable. Create a checklist of smaller tasks that lead to the completion of the larger project. Focus on completing one step at a time.

Set clear deadlines. Having a specific deadline creates a sense of urgency and accountability. Assign deadlines to each task on your list, even if they are self-imposed, to keep yourself on track.

Eliminate distractions. Distractions can easily derail your focus and lead to procrastination. Identify common distractions in your work environment and take steps to minimize them, such as setting specific times to check emails or silencing notifications.

Reflect on progress. Regular reflection helps you understand what strategies are working and where you can improve. At the end of each day, review what you accomplished and plan adjustments for the next day.

Reward yourself. Incentives can motivate you to complete tasks. Set up small rewards for completing tasks or reaching milestones, such as a short walk or a treat.

There was once a man named Bob, who was notorious for his procrastination at work. His colleagues would often joke that if procrastination were an Olympic sport, Bob would take home the gold medal every time.

One day, Bob's boss gave him a simple task: to write a short report by the end of the week. Bob, true to form, decided he had plenty of time, and put it off until the last minute. On Friday afternoon, with just an hour left before the deadline, he finally sat down to start the report.

As he stared at the blank screen, he thought to himself, “I work best under pressure. This is when my creativity really shines!” Just then, the office fire alarm went off, and everyone had to evacuate the building.

Standing outside, Bob realized that sometimes, even the best procrastinators can't control the unexpected. His boss, noticing his sheepish expression, simply smiled and said, “Well, Bob, I guess you can't procrastinate your way out of this one!”

Mackay's Moral: Procrastination is the thief of time; guard your moments by taking action today.

When I was just starting out in the early days of my career, I faced numerous rejections. During job interviews, sales pitches and attempts to secure funding, rejection was a constant companion. It was during this period that I met a mentor, a seasoned entrepreneur with decades of experience. He shared a story from his early days that I have never forgotten.

He was on the verge of bankruptcy. His company was failing, and he couldn’t see a way out. Creditors were knocking, and it seemed like every door was closing on him. One evening, feeling particularly low, he took a walk by a river, trying to clear his head. There, he saw a group of children playing with a makeshift boat. They would place the boat in the water, watch it capsize, retrieve it, fix it and try again. No matter how many times the boat capsized, the children’s enthusiasm and hope never waned. They were determined to see their boat sail.

This simple scene struck a chord with him. He realized that his approach had been all wrong. He had been focusing on the failures -- the capsized boats -- without considering that each failure was an opportunity to learn, to fix what was wrong and to try again with renewed hope and determination. Inspired by the children’s perseverance, he went back to the drawing board. He analyzed his business, identified the flaws and started fixing them, one by one. It wasn’t easy, and it took time, but eventually his business not only recovered but thrived.

This story taught me an invaluable lesson about hope. It is not just about naively wishing for things to get better. It is about learning from your failures, making the necessary adjustments and approaching your challenges with a renewed sense of purpose and optimism.

My dear friend Lou Holtz always says you need four things in your life, otherwise you are going to have a tremendous void. Number one, everyone needs something to do. Number two, everyone needs someone to love. Number three, everyone needs someone to believe in. And number four, everyone needs something in their life to hope for.

What do you want to do? You have to have hope, ambition and dreams.

My wish, dream and hope, aside from being a professional golfer, was to own my own factory. I didn’t know what I would manufacture, but I always hoped to be able to walk the factory floor and be able to have my employees look up to me.

But I didn’t wait for it to fall in my lap. I acted on that hope and made my dreams come true.

Hope is what gets many of us through our worst days. Hope is believing that every cloud has a silver lining, and when that cloud rains, it makes things grow. A perfect partner is faith, for without faith, hope is meaningless.

Hope also plays a crucial role in economic decisions. Entrepreneurs start new businesses with the hope that they will succeed and contribute to the community’s prosperity. Consumers make purchases, hoping that their choices will lead to satisfaction and well-being.

Overall, hope is the undercurrent that propels society forward. It is the belief that despite current challenges, there are possibilities for a brighter future that can be realized through collective effort and perseverance.

A leader is a dealer of hope. But if you don’t have it, you can’t share it. It starts with you. What gives you hope? What do you hope for?

In Greek mythology, Pandora opened her fabled box and let out all evils except for hope, which Greeks considered to be as dangerous as the world’s other evils. Soon they discovered that without hope to offset their troubles, humanity was filled with despair. So Pandora let out hope as well. In the myth, hope was more potent than any of the other major evils.

In modern times, we consider hope to be anything but evil. It’s what gets many of us through our worst days. Inflation, credit card debt, foreclosure, dwindling retirement funds, businesses folding -- any of these could make a person lose hope.

In my observation, hope is a powerful motivator that drives communities and individuals to strive for better outcomes, even in the face of adversity. When people have hope, they are more likely to engage in actions that can lead to positive change.

Mackay’s Moral: Hope is the compass that guides us through the darkest nights, fueled by the lessons learned in the light of day.