This is so true, Corey, and true in so many areas. Ut perhaps the most important thing you bring up is that there are no shortcuts for hard work.

I learned long ago that when I took a new product on the road to do the press tour, that I got asked almost every question I would eventually be asked in the first three interviews. So I always scheduled two or three interviews early, with a big break before the rest, so that I could practice, practice, practice. Then, when the actual tour started and the iteration begin, I was starting from a point where I was already pretty fluent.