Not long ago, I overheard a group of young women discussing Gal Gadot of Wonder Woman fame. One of the women read aloud from an article on her I-phone, a basic summary of how the actress had turned herself into a jaw-dropping, sword-wielding Amazon over the course of 6 months.

Apparently, she drank a gallon of water each day, ate approximately 1200 calories, and worked out 6 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The women passed the phone back and forth, examined the pictures of Gal’s typical daily meals, and agreed that the regimen didn’t look so bad, in fact, the food looked pretty good.

“Really, I could SO do that,” one of them said, taking a bite of her bear claw. “I could give up sweets for six months and focus on salad and steamed broccoli.” The others agreed, talked about their need to cut back here and there, up their fluid intake.

Yet, not a single mention was made of the staggering amount of time the actress had spent in the gym.

I’ve run for six hours straight, and let me tell you, the legs on chairs weren’t safe afterwards.  I could take out two breadbaskets, the basket itself, half a large pizza, and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and STILL feel hungry and deprived.

I’ve put in back-to-back six- (or 12-) hour days for weeks on end, and the very idea of keeping that slog up for six whole months, without real food, makes me want to curl up in a ball and weep. My soul hurts just thinking about it.

But these young women, they didn’t connect with any of this.

That’s the problem with our society.  We all want the results, the success, the glory, but we’ve forgotten that shit’s the byproduct of effort. We’ve all been taught that we can have it all, immediately, without shedding blood, sweat, and tears, so our minds can no longer attach to evidence of the contrary.

Cut back on sweets, my ass.

Each time I have a conversation with a perspective client who asks me if I can turn her (or him) into an Amazon Best Selling author, I know I’m dealing with one of those would-be Gal Gadots. I mean, that’s so not the right thing to focus on, particularly when we’ve yet to discuss her business, her book idea, what she’s hoping to accomplish with a powerful book out in the world.

If I had a buzzer, I’d pound it, make it go eeehhhhhhhhhhhh, but I don’t.

Instead, I explain that one could turn the back of a cereal box into an Amazon bestseller, simply because we’re dealing with an easily manipulated sales funnel.  An easy-to-replicate numbers game.

My answer gets interpreted as a yes, which is received as great news.

I get the glory surrounding a Gal Gadot. Who wouldn’t want those rippling muscles, to look that good in a tiny suit of armor?  Who wouldn’t want the ability to kick ass and take names, all with perfect hair?

But what’s with the whole Amazon bestseller status quest?  What does it actually buy you? What does it say about your book? That you’ve gotten 60 of your closest friends to download the free Kindle version of it on the same day?  Yay, you! Break out the celebratory bear claws. Wave that every-player-gets-a medal in the air.

Despite the ubiquitous Internet advertisements—the one’s that promise you a Bestseller in three months or less—writing a book that matters, that gets you what you want, that makes a difference in your readers’ lives, that changes your own life, that takes some effort.

There. I’ve done it.  I’ve gone and used the dirty e-word.  Effort.

Now, when I use the word effort, I’m not talking 6 hours a day slaving away at your keyboard for 6 months straight. Not even close. I’m not talking about giving up the pleasures of life, holing away in your poorly lit office each day with a gallon of water and a dry hunk of kale. But I am talking about thinking, and writing, and revising. I am talking about focusing, and making critical decisions, and problem solving. I am talking about writing when you’d rather do just about anything else.

I am talking about all that unsexy stuff that yields incredible results

And that’s the only way you get to be Gal Gadot.

And yah, you could SO do that.