When I was in high school (a decade ago, at this point), I was obsessed with academics. My sole purpose was to claim the valedictorian spot for my class. I spent three hours, every weekday, and five hours on the weekend, perfecting my crafts of reading comprehension, test-taking, and needless memorization.
In my Freshman year, towards the end of the academic calendar, my classmate told me:
“You know, if I tried as hard as you, I’d get the same grades as you.”
I looked right back at him and exclaimed, “Yes, yes you would.”
And that was the truth. If he put in the hours, rigor, and concentrated effort that I did, he would certainly reap the same rewards. My academic performance in high school, at its core, came down to focus and commitment.
10 years later, I still remember my classmate’s statement. It’s stuck with me for 3,650 days. 87,600 hours.
The statement is just as powerful now as it was back then, and it’ll continue to grow in power as I traverse more obstacles professionally, personally, and socially.
The harder I try, the more I fail. The more I fail, the more experiences I can learn from. The more I can learn from, the more ammunition I can use to refine my next shot. Shot after shot, the process repeats until I can nail the target over and over. Then, inevitably, the target moves farther away or changes in shape. So I repeat the same process of trying, failing, and learning, to match the various firearms, targets, and distances that life throws at me.
One easy, sure-fire way to boost your performance … in ANY part of your life, is to put in the work. The work itself isn’t as valuable as the commitment you put into the process. It’s the commitment to continued learning, and consequent growth, that allows you to try harder and smarter … day after day. Year after year. Decade after decade. The harder you work, the more iterations you can manifest, which will provide you with more data that empowers your future decision-making.
In other words, your hard work naturally transforms into smart work when you keep working harder.
It’s not sexy. It’s not trendy. But it’s real. It’s free. And it’s earned.
Try harder. It’ll make you work harder, which allows you to work smarter. Whoever can work harder, and smarter, can synergize his/her efforts and magnify his/her impact in this world. It’s a virtuous cycle that reinforces itself time and time again, in all parts of our lives. The more you work, the better you get at working. Your input will increase in quality, as will the machine itself, which churns out your output. Your machine of focus and commitment will naturally create the rewards you reap.
Also, for those curious – I didn’t end up as valedictorian. It was no fault of my own, but rather a circumstance of class scheduling conflicts (which impacted coursework and consequent rankings). I spent four years trying as hard as I could, to accomplish a singular goal, and I failed. I just wasn’t good enough.
But I sure as heck put in the work. I kept working harder. And I began working smarter. Which ultimately allowed me to leverage my high school education as a foundation for college. This foundation allowed me to focus my efforts elsewhere during my undergraduate years, thereby providing me with an avenue for unchartered territory in other aspects of life.
I learned a LOT from this new, unchartered territory. And it was all thanks to the principle of trying harder.
I’ll share my undergraduate experience (and its unchartered territory) with you shortly. For now, I’d love to know what drives you, and what you do to optimize your efforts and your learnings?
Have a blessed day!
