Appreciate the effort

Is there some task that you resent having to do, or that you avoid doing even though you know it must eventually be done? Consider this. What if you couldn’t do it? What is some disability or other circumstance made it physically impossible for you to do that task? Would you look at it differently?

Life is filled with blessings, and perhaps one of life’s most under-appreciated blessings is the necessity to engage in meaningful effort. Effort is your opportunity to create the future in your own special way. Being able to make effort gives you the ability to have a direct influence in your world.

Certainly effort can often be challenging, inconvenient and even painful. Yet if life were free of effort it would also be void of meaning. Nothing can match the sense of fulfillment that comes from sustained and effective effort. That fulfillment comes precisely because effort is so difficult and demanding.

But there is no need to make effort even more difficult by fighting or avoiding or resenting it. Instead, take the time to connect each effort to some meaningful purpose within you. If you are reluctant to do it, take that as a cue to remind yourself why you’re doing it. Not only will that make you feel better about what you’re doing, it will also make you much more effective in getting it done.