“Make each day count by setting specific goals to succeed, then putting forth every effort to exceed your own expectations.”—Les Brown
Nothing of value comes easy. Success is earned, and it requires effort. Even the “lucky” one had to put himself/herself in the path of opportunity.
I don’t know what bothers me more: to see someone not put forth the effort to success yet expects the same reward as one who does, or a system (e.g., the educational system) that allows one to progress with minimal effort.
A hard lesson in life is to work very hard and not win. More often than not, however, this will be how life will turn out. Someone else gets the promotion. Someone else gets the trophy. Someone gets paid more. In such cases, there are three options: 1) give up; 2) acceptance; or 3) work harder. Working harder seems counter-productive, because we are already getting screwed (in our minds) for our effort, but it is the only logical path. It is the only way we will excel and succeed against those who are beating us out of what we want. If we are honest with ourselves, though, we are not doing all that we can do, and that person who is ahead of us is doing more. True, that person might be getting an unfair advantage, but so what? How much greater is the reward when we do win.
Someone always has to work the hardest. Why not me (you)?
Perhaps, it is not a matter of just working harder but of working smarter. Stop doing things that impede your progress. “Opportunity costs”! Concentrate your efforts on what produces success.
Take pleasure in the pain. I have often used the analogy in exercise of the man who is hitting himself in the head with a two-by-four. When asked “Why?”, he responds, “Because it feels so good when I stop.” Now, I don’t suggest that hitting one’s self in the head with a piece of wood is the appropriate path to success, but the reason we take the difficult path is that the feeling upon completion is elating. Embrace the challenge.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!