Are you ever a little envious when you see someone doing something you are doing and they make it look effortless?
Here’s what you need to know: the reason it looks effortless to you is because they have been putting in an extraordinary amount of effort! What you are witnessing is the fruits of hard work. It looks easy, because they have worked incredibly hard and spent countless hours working hard. This is the secret to making something look easy.
It looks easy, because they have worked incredibly hard…This is the secret to making something look easy.
It doesn’t matter what it is that you are doing. The key to your performance is not the time when you are actually in the arena performing, the key is the time you spend preparing and honing yourself outside of the arena. Everyone wants to look good and do their best when it is their turn to perform. Doing a presentation at work, running in a race, competing in a sport, playing an instrument, taking an exam….these are when your degree of preparation and effort is revealed.
It is the work you put in when no one is watching that counts. It is the hours of studying on your own, or the countless times you practiced your presentation, or the weeks and weeks of practice on the piano that position you to do the thing you do when it is being counted. You must work hard at your craft every day. You must work hard whether you feel good or not, whether you feel like it or not. You must sacrifice some of the things that would ask for your attention, but don’t sharpen your skill. This takes self-discipline.
instant gratification will bring you later pain, while delayed gratification will bring you later rewards and greater joy.
Many times it is an exchange of the thing that would give you pleasure at the moment but does not add value to the big picture, for the hard work you choose instead, that will bring you greater joy, greater accomplishment, and greater self-worth at a later time. Think of it this way: instant gratification will bring you later pain, while delayed gratification will bring you later rewards and greater joy.
Success in anything is easy…if you work hard.
Try adjusting your thinking to experience instant gratification from the good feeling you get from doing the work you need to do. Feel the boost in your energy from investing yourself in yourself. This is why it makes so much sense to pursue the things in life that you are passionate about. The pursuit itself is a daily experience which brings joy. When you reach the top of the mountain, you will have the exhilaration of the accomplishment, but the real beauty of this is all the days that led to this point. This is the true value. What you become as a person through the journey. Reaching the top is inevitable if you joyfully experience each day of the effort. Success in anything is easy…if you work hard.
