In recent years, we have seen candidates be successful by seemingly breaking traditional rules – the past two presidents come to the top of my mind. After their successes, far too many candidates try to emulate the perceived “new tactics” without the same results at the ballot box. Some have chalked up Yemi Mobolade’s Colorado Springs mayoral victory to “new political energy vs. a traditional campaign,” and though I respect their analysis, labeling it as moving from traditional to new is quite the opposite.

Returning to the basics is what won and the only recipe for success. So, what are the ingredients? There is only one: hard work.

Though this could probably be said of most things in life, this is by far the most important thing you can do to increase your chances of success on a campaign. Many requirements of a campaign are far from enjoyable. Working hard is not fun; losing elections because there was more you could do is worse.

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Time and time again across the country, we see candidates who seemingly refuse to put in enough work and lose. Last cycle with Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels, his work ethic was criticized due to his “light calendar.”

In 2018, we saw blood-red Kansas elect a Democrat Governor. How does this happen? By all reports, it was not a particularly well-run campaign by the Democrat, but it was a particularly poor one by the Republican nominee, Kris Kobach. When seasoned political operatives share the belief that the candidate did not seem interested in “fundraising, grassroots organizing, or asking voters for their support,” you have a major problem.

Campaigns are multifaceted. Working hard on one particular area of a campaign is not enough, you need to work hard at all aspects of it. If you are working hard at knocking on doors but make little attempts at fundraising, you are not working hard enough. This is one of many ways political consultants can be helpful, as we can advise you on the best use of your time. This insight often involves recommending candidates do hard things.

Ninety-nine percent of campaigning is not glamorous. It is attending a myriad of events throughout the district from the early morning to late at night, day in and day out for months on end; it requires a willingness to make the difficult calls asking people to donate to your campaign; it is doing work that you might think is beneath you as a candidate, like personally going door to door canvassing; it is about learning about mundane issues you have no interest in but a voter asked you about; it is hard work.

Campaigning is not Sunday Night Football; it is two-a-day practices; it is early morning sessions in the weight room; it is seemingly endless repetitions of bear crawls, burpees and other exercises that leave you wondering how this helps you catch a football; it is hard work. None of that analogy is likely surprising about becoming a professional athlete, so why does it apparently surprise candidates about what it takes to become an elected official?

To me, it seems Yemi Mobolade did not discover anything new. He simply went back to the basics. He worked hard. By most accounts, he had a better ground game, he significantly upped his fundraising efforts in the final weeks of the campaign and hustled to secure key endorsements, to name a few. All of this seems to point to one thing: hard work.

Alec Hanna is a Colorado-based Republican campaign strategist and founder of Dark Horse Campaigns. He previously served as a director for former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and has served on dozens of campaigns nationwide including three presidential campaigns (Walker, Rubio and Cruz).