The Power Of Effort
In literal terms, effort refers to the conscious exertion of power. In modern culture, it is considered as the bare minimum that separates you from a crowd of mediocrity. It's the stable, concrete foundation that keeps your fragile success from crumbling at the hands of minor misconduct.
In the words of Rory Vaden, a Self-Discipline Strategist, New York Times bestselling author, and the writer of Daily Discipline and Take the Stairs,
"Success is not owned; it is merely rented— and the rent is due every day."
Being impulsive humans, who run on instant gratification, we are always searching for the shortest and easiest route to being successful— whether it's in our personal lives, social lives, professions or academics. We are always looking to attain the best results by investing minimum effort, wanting to hit a jackpot or win a lottery, dreaming about our lives hitting the peaks of success while we laze around on our leisurely couches. But not all folks are as lucky as Jackson Whittaker and what we achieve at the end (or lose) is the immediate result of the hassles we've been putting in place.
You are well aware that success seldom comes overnight. Even if you are born with the precious gift of intelligence and the invaluable blessing of luck unless you work hard enough, challenge your limits, and invest your maximum effort, you'll reach nowhere near you dream to. Desired results aren't attained by magic, fantasies and wishes upon shooting stars, it's your day-to-day dedication that snatches victory.
Effort: A clever investment in business
People admire and look up to successful entrepreneurs, Olympians and executives in awe and think how wonderful it would be to wear their shoes someday. But what they fail to acknowledge is the insane amount of labour, effort and sacrifices they've subsidised to become who they became.
Business success is a progressive change. You can't be successful here if you keep on trying the same routes which have failed you in the past. This is why it is important to invest consistent yet innovative effort while doing business. You constantly need to come up with novel thoughts and ideas and find different means to incorporate those into your work, in order to bring vibrant results. None of this would be possible if you were slacking on the initiative to come up with ideas and the trouble of trying to apply them.
The price to pay
Everything in life has a price to it. In business, it is the diligence you invest into bringing your abstracts, notions and vision to life. You can't control your resources, initial finance and investments, and how much interest the audience takes in your providence— but what you can control are the attributes you put into moulding it all to suit your desire and demand. With adequate hard work, you can discover new resources, extend your finances, find new investors and add attraction to your business outlook for the audience.
Like Orison Marden, the author of An Iron Will, says,
"What keeps so many people back is simply an unwillingness to pay the price, to make exertion, the effort to sacrifice their ease and comfort."
Effort beats talent
You can be a genius and have the greatest most innovative strategies for your business, but if you fail to contribute the persistent work needed to make it bear results, you achieve nothing but a mere neuro-association of your brain.
Talent and innate wit can only take you so far, it's the effort you put into sustaining the success you've achieved through their gift, that actually makes it have a lasting impact.
Prepare yourself for the right effort
You should be dauntless and know when and where to invest your time, energy and money. Be open to communication and welcome the opinions of your co-workers. Make sure you don't put out too many features into a product, right off the bat. It might make everything extremely complicated and innovation might meet a dead end, too soon. Experiment little by little, put out simpler products with simpler features at first, wait till you get sufficient feedback, and gain complete expertise in the initial production methods.
On the other hand, if you keep the features too minimalistic and simplified, it won't be attractive enough. So, try to find the middle ground and don't be afraid to experiment new things and saying no to a few ideas because saying 'no' is sometimes the wiser thing and might save you from mindlessly wasting too much.
What works is a Minimal Viable Product (MVP), which is presented with just enough features to be used by early customers to gain their feedback, to help you with early product hypothesis and save you from spending unnecessary resources, time and fortune.
Feasibility analysis can also be computed, which is a method to assess the practicality of a proposed system. It uncovers the strengths and weaknesses of a business, reveals its opportunities and the threats inflicted by the environment. Its judgement is based on two criteria, the cost required to run a project and the value to be attained.
WHAT DO YOU GAIN?
Find the right path If your consistent effort strays you away from your ultimate goal, you will know that that's when you should change your approach, which wouldn't be possible if you hadn't even tried to begin.
Be boundless By putting in enough hard work, you will know what you're capable of, and once you do know your limits, you can aim to surpass them.
Growth and progress You will learn to walk out of your comfort zone and learn to be unafraid of the things that once frightened you— setting up a new business, taking initiative, working long hours and constantly changing strategies and game plans.
The road to mastery You will polish your skills and abilities to utmost perfection if you are persistently trying to improve. It will ultimately pave your path and bring you closer to being successful.