Levels of Effort

The Effort Scale

All too often we lose sight of the possibilities that are right in front of us. We spend so much time thinking about issues, challenges, and questions, in order words things we "can't do," that we seldom view our options, or things that we "can do." One of the things that we have at our disposal at any point in time is our effort.  But how often are we fully aware of how much effort we are exerting, or could potentially put forth? Prolific author Stephen King once wrote that “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”  

But how much effort does one need to accomplish a goal that requires hard work? The answer to that question, of course, depends on the situation.  Rest assured that the degree of effort required is generally associated with the level of difficulty to answer the question.  In short, easy questions require little effort.  More difficult questions require a significant amount of effort. An illustration such as the Effort Scale explains that your level of energy spans the spectrum from effortless on one end to maximum effort on the other. Anything we do in life has a level of effort associated with it.  

In the adjacent video interview with successful entrepreneur and business mogul Mark Cuban, he believes that "The one constant you have control over is effort."  Despite all of the distractions around you, the one constant you have control over is your effort.  When large issues cloud your vision it is easy to forget that effort is still within your potential.  Directly linked to your level of effort is your physical and cerebral energy.  If you are physically or mentally drained from some other situation that will have a negative impact on your level of energy.  For example, if the situation requires you to put forth levels of very hard, extremely hard, or maximum strength effort, and you failed to get enough sleep the night before, it will be difficult, if not impossible to move forward with the requisite level of effort.   Additionally, if you are constantly reminding yourself of something that happened in the past, a situation that you have no control over, then such mental preoccupation can also have a negative impact on your ability to apply the level of effort required.
 

The application and management of effort is also directly related to your ability to maximize opportunities.  Do you understand the relationship between your level of effort and personal or professional opportunities.   Inventor Thomas Edison understood that "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."  Work takes effort.  To identify opportunities one needs to be prepared and work as hard as possible.  Generating high degrees of effort will often result in creating more opportunities.  It is also important to realize that the harder the work generally the more effort required.   To identify and take advantages of opportunities though, you must maintain a high level of effort.  If your level of energy is at the low end of the spectrum, where you put almost no effort, very light, or light amounts of effort, then it will be very challenging to successfully navigate opportunities.

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Questions to Consider:

• Are you aware of the level of effort you are exerting compared to what is required of a specific situation?
• What are you doing to maintain a high level of energy in order to apply the level of effort required in a specific situation?
• How do you define hard work? Do you agree with author Stephen King that “what separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work?”
• Do you believe, as Mark Cuban observed, that “the one constant you have control over is effort?"
• Reflecting upon your life, have you noticed that you failed to identify or take advantage of an opportunity because your level of effort was too low?