Hitting a milestone is gratifying. In the past two weeks, I've been blessed with two: one of my YouTube videos has passed a million views, and Penguin have informed me that my new book, 'Poverty Proof,' has entered a second print-run, just a couple of months after publication.

If you've watched the video, or bought the book, I'd like to say a heartfelt word of thanks to you, and I truly hope that the ideas I share are making a positive contribution to your life. For my part, I will continue trying to generate and share useful content.

The funny thing about milestones is that they are very dramatic when they arrive - very splashy and public - but generally surprisingly slow, tedious and private in their creation. There is nothing glamorous about the background work.

Writing a book is a long slog, with no guarantees of success while you are doing the work. Then it generally takes about a year after completion before the book actually appears in stores (by which point, like a woman going through labour, you've forgotten about the pain and are eager to go through it all again).

And so this week's word of encouragement may seem somewhat strange. I would like you to consider this question: What spectacular and exciting things could you achieve if you could put in the slow, boring, tedious work over a sufficiently long period of time?

I like to view it this way: the time will pass one way or the other. What if, slowly but surely, you grew something truly meaningful, starting today?

Most real-world achievements are surprisingly slow to generate. They are private work, which no one forces you to do. So dig in. Keep going. Persevere longer than others, and one day, perhaps to your own surprise, you could own your industry.

Douglas Kruger is a bestselling business and wealth author, and an inductee into the Speakers Hall of Fame. Visit www.douglaskruger.com.