I’ve come to believe that success at anything has a spillover effect on other things. You can take advantage of that effect by becoming good at things that require nothing but practice. Once you become good at a few unimportant things, such as hobbies or sports, the habit of success stays with you on more important quests.

The first time I discovered that success in one area results in success in other walks of life was when I started exercising. Thanks to my own efforts, I got stronger, lost weight and gained some muscle. This small success made me realize that I had control over my life.

From then on, I embarked on other projects to change my life, including objectives as varied as overcoming shyness and building self-confidence, launching my first business, living in a foreign country, learning foreign languages, and eventually becoming a self-published author.

If you don’t believe in your abilities to succeed, heed Scott Adams’ advice and pick something that requires nothing but practice to become good at it. Invest several months of your life into it and when you notice progress — based entirely on your own efforts, not “luck” — I’m sure you’ll discover in yourself the power to tackle other challenges .

In addition to that, every goal you’re consistently working on will help you develop the proper habits and traits needed to achieve success. Whether it’s learning how to play chess, dancing, learning Russian, setting up a backyard garden, or mastering table tennis, the real-world experience of going from a complete newbie to a person knowledgeable about the topic will transform you from the inside out.

You don’t get extreme talent, fame, or success without extreme actions.

It’s important to approach your goals in a sustainable way, thinking in terms of months, years, or decades instead of mere days or weeks. However, at the same time, taking extreme actions can pay handsome dividends, too.

Balancing between the extreme and more sustainable approach is a difficult art, but in essence it comes down to taking extreme actions during a relatively brief period of time, while ensuring that your actions are sustainable over the long term.

For example, when my first book became a bestseller, I stuck to a strict publication schedule to benefit from the gained momentum. I launched my second book (on which I had been working since I finished the first draft of my first book) a mere three weeks later. My third book went live in another two weeks, and my fourth was released three weeks after the previous one.

From there, I slowed down my pace, but I still managed to release at least four new books each year. In the short term, my actions were extreme. And precisely because of that, I was able to build a large following quickly. However, after an initial sprint, you need to slow down to go the distance—and that’s when I transitioned to a little less extreme approach, but one still exhibited by few authors.

Are you taking extreme actions to gain momentum and separate yourself from the ones who don’t have the self-discipline needed to push themselves hard for a short period of time? How can you intensify your efforts for a couple of weeks or months to maximize your results before transitioning to a more sustainable and less extreme approach?