The Mumford & Sons have sold 1 million albums this year. They’ve played sold out shows across the country. Bob Dylan played with them at the Grammy’s, in what was easily the best moment of the night. From seemingly out of nowhere, they’ve stormed America and had a run 99.9% of all bands will never experience.

So what’s the secret of their success? They shared it the other day in an interview and it’s actually not that surprising.

In the latest issue of Rolling Stone Magazine, a writer named Josh Eells wrote a great article about the band. In it, he tried to figure out why they’ve been on such a rocket ride. Marcus Mumford is trying to figure that out too and in one fantastic paragraph, he revealed the secret to their success.

“It’s really weird to me that people like our music. It’s pretty straightforward. There’s no flash to it. And there are so many other bands doing it. People are like ‘Don’t listen to Mumford & Sons – listen to this band.’ And I’m like, ‘I know!’ We’re just mediocre, fat English musicians. But we try hard.”

And there it is.

It’s not sexy.

It is not broken into four steps or five action plans.

It’s simple and maybe even a little boring, but it’s incredibly effective.

They try hard. That’s it. They try hard. Or as Ben Lovett, another member of the band puts it, “Our only saving grace is that we work really hard.”

Will your band be on the Grammy’s? Maybe not. Will your book hit the New York Times Bestseller List? Maybe not. Will your business or dream or whatever blow up in the same way as the Mumford & Sons? Maybe not.

But the secret of success is that it’s not really a secret at all. Success always starts the exact same way. With hard work.

Question:
It’s Friday, the day lots of people mail it in because “Thank God it’s Friday.” What’s one way you could work hard today?