Coaching Stories No 21 - Things Are Not Happening - How Hard Should I Work

 Q. Things are not happening. How hard should I work?

Pic courtesy Mansi P

If things are not happening its because you are either not working hard enough or are working hard at the wrong things i.e. a lot of activity with no results. But first and foremost, if there is not enough effort from our side, we cannot achieve great results.

What is enough effort? Let's say, we just call it giving our best. What is our best?

Consider this example. If I ask you to run around a football field as long as you can and stop when you have reached your limit, you might give me 5 rounds and stop (hypothetically). That's what we normally do on our own - stop at our first sign of discomfort. It is human nature to put in only as much effort as it is needed to survive.

Then I ask you to give me some more effort, a couple of rounds. You humour me because you still have some gas left and run a couple and say that's it, no more. That's 7 rounds.

And then i tell you that if you do not run some more I will hit you with a stick...in fact I will hit you if you stop. You run for the fear of getting beaten up - and this time you will give me another 5 rounds lets say. We normally have that much left. That's 12 rounds.

You stop and say, that's the maximum and you don't mind getting beaten up. I then pull out a revolver and say I will shoot you if you do not run till you fall. You will run for your life, a few more rounds until you fall. That could pretty much be another 4-5 or more. 16 rounds!

You get the general idea. We stop well short of our limit. If we want something badly it must consume us, it must be the only thing on our mind almost. You must push until you fall, know your limit.

Sometime then you will find some doors unlocking. So, don't stop, go for it. Find your limit.You will find results.